


Sword Art Academia

by NezukoHanhan248



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Angry Bakugou Katsuki, Bakugou Katsuki Being A Little Shit, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Dadzawa, Iida Tenya is a Good Friend, Izuku is Pretty OP, Katsuki is Pretty OP, Kirishima Eijirou is a Ray of Sunshine, Midoriya Izuku is Bad at Feelings, Midoriya Izuku is Self Conscious, Midoriya Izuku is a Nerd, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Pretty Much Everyone Is Quirkless, Quirkless Discrimination (My Hero Academia), Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, The Author Regrets Everything, The author had this idea forever ago, This is just a crossover for the world of the other anime, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor Being An Asshole, Todoroki Shouto Needs a Hug, Yaoyorozu Momo is a Good Friend, but it was only bits and pieces, this story may be a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26806426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NezukoHanhan248/pseuds/NezukoHanhan248
Summary: Izuku Midoriya was always made fun of since the day he was pronounced quirkless. But the day he gets his hand on the beta test for the newest game, “Sword Art Online”, Izuku jumps at the idea of it. Inside the virtual world, nobody has to know about his quirkless status, and since nobody has a quirk in-game, just his mind alone can help him jump through any hurdle the game throws at him.However, the day the game is released to the public, everyone is suddenly trapped in the game. Izuku knows Katsuki Bakugo, his once childhood friend, but now bully, is in the game too. So, Izuku does everything he can to remain under the explosive boy’s radar while quickly climbing the ranks of the game.
Comments: 109
Kudos: 329





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I only really made this a crossover because I’ve wanted to throw the BNHA characters into the SAO universe, and see how their characters would be applied in that world, where nobody would, or could, have quirks. So, everyone would end up being on pretty much the same status.  
> This is just a story where I had thought of bits and pieces, so I apologize if the story gets a bit messy. However, I will try and get this right for you guys!

School. The hellish place almost every kid deems as the place of suffering, where all you do is jam information into your head, and feel it slip out of the other side. It always feels pointless, and stupid. So the kids then run home, and quickly do whatever they deem fun, like video games.

However, for some kids, it isn’t the education that is hell. It can be the people around them in their classroom, making them suffer simply because they are different than the others. Nobody is alike, but if you’re too different, you aren’t good enough. That’s just how it is in school.

Izuku Midoriya has always received the poor end of the stick, and has been shunned from almost everyone in society. His once best friend pushed him a way almost the second the greenette was deemed quirkless, and everyone followed the blonde’s lead. Katsuki was just born a natural leader, blessed with everything a person would want: an amazing quirk, a natural fighting instinct, an ability to lead, and the ability to make everyone in the room do exactly what you do. It was just natural for everyone to follow in Katsuki’s footsteps. So when he shoved a Izuku down, everyone shoved Izuku down. When Katsuki punched Izuku, everyone punched Izuku. And when Katsuki started calling Izuku names, like “worthless”, “nobody”, and “Deku”, everyone called Izuku that.

Therefore, Izuku lived the best parts of his life in the comforts of his home, staring at his All Might posters, and looking into the latest video games. As the world released a _true_ virtual reality, where you could actually be _in_ the world instead of just wearing some headset, Izuku took heavy interest. One of the first games, which was so interesting that it was all anyone talked about, was called “Sword Art Online”. 

Izuku started taking all sorts of notes on the new inventions for virtual reality, and actually had sent some emails to the producers to give ideas for how the idea could go farther, and enhance the experience of the game. They happily replied, and thanked him for the ideas, not knowing, or caring that the boy was quirkless. So when they emailed _Izuku_ , the boy was shocked, and practically died when he read the contents of said email. It was an invitation to beta test the game, and recommend some more things they could change _within_ the game.

The next week, a package arrived at the boy’s door, and his mother looked at him with curiosity as he hauled it into his room, unpacking it, and setting it up. Of course, he had to inform his mom before he plunged into the virtual world that he would be there in the first place. Boy was she happy when she realized the recognition her son was getting.

Placing the nerve gear over his thick, green curls, the visor hiding his wide, bright green eyes, he tapped the random parts of his body that was needed to be touched, and he quickly started the game.

Automatically, he knew he wasn’t in his world anymore. The loading screen gave him the sensation of just floating in a void, and boy was he happy when he got to set up his character. He wanted to still look like himself, but not _exactly_ look like himself. He just wanted to change some of the features that most people criticized him for back in school. Said features were his curls, the splatter of freckles adorning his face, the baby-like form of his face, and his height. So first, he decided to change his height from 5’3 to 5’8, the height of Katsuki. His hair was placed into a lighter shade of green, more of a pastel color. The cut was more like the style of Shoto Todoroki, the famous son of the number two pro hero, Endeavor. Next, he made his face a little slimmer, and erased all freckles that were splattered across his cheeks.

The outfit was plain, but Izuku didn’t mind, knowing that this was just a started outfit, and he could quickly upgrade it later. He smiled at his new appearance, and started the game. 

He found himself in a city made of stone, markets lining the narrow, lamp-lit streets. Immediately, he took note of the sword that pressed against his back. He pulled it out of it’s sheath, and studied it. A basic sword, meant for first starting the game. He wanted to learn some blacksmithing so he could upgrade sword on his own. He wants to learn how do hunt animals, properly duel with a sword, and _everything_. He doesn’t want to miss out on anything to do with such an amazing game. Hell, he hasn’t even started, but he knows it’s great.

He starts to run down the street, smiling as his boots meet the stone ground, assuring him that he wasn’t so happy that he was actually flying off into a completely new world. It told him he was actually _here_. He was a beta tester, which was a privilege he was sure nobody in his school could accomplish. He wondered who else was here.

* * *

Izuku woke up the next morning, and slipped on his uniform, unhappy to be back in the real world. He had just finished fighting a low-level boar when he had to leave the game to go eat dinner. He hadn’t exactly ran into anyone else in the game, which made him wonder if there _were_ any other beta testers. He was sure there are, they were probably just offline, or doing other things.

As Izuku ate katsudon, which his mother made in celebration for his notice by popular game creators, Inko was automatically questioning him, asking him about the hame experience, and how intriguing it was. He happily answered her, giving details of a world one would only think was a dream.

But that was yesterday. Today, he would have to wait until he was done with school before he could go back into the game. Just because he was deemed worthy enough to be a beta tester, didn’t mean he was worthy enough to skip school.

He quickly finished all his school work, trying to make sure he wouldn’t have anything to do once he got home. Katsuki just watched in annoyance as Izuku muttered the answers to the schoolwork.

Everyone in class hated Izuku, but they couldn’t lie, and say that they weren’t grateful for Izuku’s mumbling habit. Without it, they’d probably struggle to get their work done on time. When he forgot to mumble an answer out loud, the class would wonder if he was stumped on it, or if he just figured it out that quickly. However, every now and again, the teachers would catch on, hit the top of Izuku’s head, reminding him to silence himself. The boy would then mutter his apologies, and it would only take at a minimum of ten minutes for him to start mumbling again.

Today, kids were struggling to keep up with Izuku as he sped through the work, all of them wondering how he could even be getting so worked up about that he would hardly even hesitate to question the answer he got. Therefore, the students who could comprehend the words spilling from the boy’s mouth would write it down, and then share it with their seat neighbor. Katsuki never paid attention to this though. He never wanted to rely on the “nerd” for anything. The explosive boy knew he could do anything without the help of some short, insufficient, quirkless kid. Hell, Katsuki knew he could do better.

However, even Katsuki was curious about what the small boy was excited about. So as the final bell rang, and Izuku didn’t even stay in his seat after class to pull out his phone, and write in his notebook about any pros, Katsuki began his chase, and right outside the school, he grabbed Izuku by his book bag, and threw him against the wall. Izuku’s natural analyst skills were already in gear, trying to figure out the best way out of this. They were looking for any possible ways of exit, the first person who would hit, and thinking of the first words that would be spat at him, all while thinking of what to say in ay of those scenarios. 

“Oi, nerd, what’re you so worked up about? Thought you could just get away today? I actually didn’t get to take a break because you got out of that classroom so quick. Mind explaining why you thought I needed to rush?” Katsuki questioned, intimidatingly looking at Izuku, who was starting to shake a bit. Just because Izuku had plans on what to do didn’t mean he wasn’t still scared. His plans could go wrong any time, and things could just get worse.

“I-I... Er...” Izuku stammered.

“Well?” Katsuki pried.

“M-mom was j-j-just... g-going t-t-to take me o-out to e-eat today. It’s been a-awh-awhile, s-s-so...” Immediately after Izuku finishes speaking, Katsuki’s shoe meets Izuku’s shoulder, pressing the greenette closer to the brick walls of the school.

“Is that so? Well you still have plenty of time. You wouldn’t mind if we helped you waste it, right?” Katsuki asks, holding his hand up as he makes some small explosions from the palm of his hand. Katsuki and his “friends” got bored after maybe ten minutes, and Izuku struggled to get up, his legs sore, his stomach in pain, and his nose bleeding. He wiped the blood off onto his sleeve, not knowing that some of it was still there, only smeared from the wipe. He then grabbed his bright yellow backpack, and tightly gripped onto the straps, not wanting to lose the bag again. It held his notebooks, some of his biggest prides and joys. They used to certainly be his prides and joy, but now, they were having a tough competition with his status as a “Sword Art Online” beta tester.

Izuku trudged home, trying to work past the pain. He snuck into his home, quietly slipping off his shoes as he silently walked into his room, shutting the door. He slid a box out from under his bed, and pulled out some of the contents of said box. He ended up grabbing some ointment and bandages. He applied the ointment to his wounds, and wrapped up his injuries. Next, he changed into much more comfortable clothes.

As he slipped on the nerve gear, he smiled, knowing he was going to be in a world where he wouldn’t be judged just because Katsuki was there, and told them to hate him. Nobody would know right off the bat that he was quirkless. Hell, the game even took his recommendation to make sure that people couldn’t sneak their quirks into the game. They didn’t want people to cheat, and use that as a weapon. The game probably wouldn’t know how to process quirks since the game producers couldn’t list every quirk in the world for the enemies to register. Since quirk attacks wouldn’t be registered, if quirks were to get in the game, it could cause the game to crash.

Without quirks, Izuku could feel more at peace, knowing that people couldn’t attack him with their quirks, and start being all flashy with them, as if a way for the world to rub into Izuku’s face that he could never get away from quirks, and would never have one himself.

When Izuku’s boots met the stone pathway in the city, he immediately started running, his sword already at the ready as he ran into the grassy plains, and quickly started taking care of the small enemies, his level gradually building up.

However, these were beginning to not be enough for Izuku. Maybe it was about time he tried to find this floor’s boss so he could move on to the next. After all, he never got an announcement saying that any of the other beta testers beat this floor’s boss. It was all for him.


	2. Someone New and a Boss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku runs into someone as they run towards the boss fight.

Izuku ran through the cobbled streets, his feet rapidly making contact with the stone as he ran. The amazing smell of freshly baked bread, meat being cooked, and markets filled with countless fruits and vegetables filled his lungs. Adding the quiet into it all, this city was extremely peaceful, a wonderful place to be when first joining the game. The players were going to love it.

But if this was just the first city, how big and beautiful are the others? If this isn’t one of the most beautiful things he will see in-game, what will the last floor look like?

Izuku shoved those thoughts aside, paying attention to his sheathed sword softly hitting his back with each step. It was it’s gentle reminder to tell him that it was there, and prepared to strike through the skin of any beast that dare challenge him in this game. The thrill of fighting the first floor boss kept Izuku running, longing to see what it looked like. He wanted to try and see if there were any flaws in it, and see the design that came with it. He wanted to know how it fought, and if it would threaten anyone with words of despair, meaning to scare the wits out of anyone daring to challenge it. Maybe it just roared in anger. Well, he would only know when he gets to it.

As he pondered the beast’s appearance, a girl turned the corner from one of the small alleyways on the street, and before Izuku could stop, he ran into her on accident, and the two fell to the ground. He quickly got off the girl, and held out a hand to help her up. She was a couple inches shorter than him, had long, black hair, black, yet calming eyes, and like Izuku, wore some simple starter’s clothes.

While fighting the board and other small animals the first floor provided, Izuku had progressively gotten more and more money, and had gotten some new equipment from loot drops. So he had a higher level sword, a black, knee length coat that provided warmth, an increase in his stealth level, and increased his health ever so slightly. It wasn’t great, but anything helped.

The girl wore a white button-up, a dark grey skirt that went just a few inches above her knees, and a pair of black boots.

“Oww.” She complained, rubbing the top of her head. She finally noticed Izuku’s offering hand, and took it. The boy helped the girl up, and quickly started apologizing. “Oh god, I’m so sorry! I was just trying to find the boss fight, and I didn’t even see you until last second, and again, I’m really really sorry! I should have been more caref-“

“Woah woah woah! Hey, it’s okay! No big deal.” The girl have him a warm smile, and then started brushing herself off, swiping away the dirt that cling to her clothes from when she made contact with the ground. “Y’know, I haven’t seen you around before. Are you just now testing out the game?”

“I started yesterday. I honestly haven’t seen anyone yet. How many players are in the game?” Izuku asks, looking down at the shorter person.

“Well, I heard there’s supposed to be one thousand beta testers, but they’re from a whole bunch of different places, so there’s only about one hundred online right now. We all like to meet up at the church because of how big it is. We’ve been in the game for a couple days now, and we apologize for not seeing you.” 

“Ah, that’s fine. I’ve been wondering where everyone is. I’ve been occupying my time fighting some of the animals roaming around.”

“Oh really? What level have you reached?” 

“Four. I’m halfway to five.” 

“I’m level seven! If you’re headed to look for that boss fight, I can go with you and help. We were actually discussing finding it, and where me might find it. But it’s been kinda bored waiting for them to make a decision already.”

“Ah, that’ll be great! I’m Midoriya, by the way.”

“Oh, how stupid of me to have forgotten introductions. I’m Yaoyorozu.” She holds out her hand, and gives Izuku a soft handshake. The greenette recognizes the name, and racks his brain, trying to remember where he heard it from. “You okay?”

“Ah, yeah! Er, I just recognize your name. I’m trying to remember where I’ve heard it from.”

“Oh! Yeah, I got to beta test the game because my dad has frequently helped fund some things, and has donated plenty of money to those who have had plenty of home damage and family loss due to villain attacks. He also runs a company that helps people get a better understanding of their quirk, and train that quirk. That’s where he gets all the money for his donations.” Yaoyorozu explains. Izuku smacks his forehead, and says “I can’t believe I forgot! Your name definitely has a good reputation. Do you plan on taking over the company when it’s, Y’know, his time?”

“Maybe. However, I plan on jumping into heroics when I finish middle school. I’m aiming to try and jump into U.A.. What about you?” The girl looks up at him, eyes full of innocence as she asks one of the questions Izuku had hoped would never be asked.

“Er, well, I don’t know yet. I still need to figure out what I want to do with my future, but so far, after checking out this game, programming is starting to look pretty cool. Might go into U.A.’s support course.” The boy mumbles.

“Oh, that’s cool! Well, maybe we’ll get to see each other. It would be great to see you in person.”

“You too...”

“Well, let’s go! No time to waste!” And with that, she grabs Izuku’s hand, and they start running through the city, looking for anything ominous enough to be a boss fight. The two ran through plenty of streets, passed by the church, where Izuku actually heard _people_ , the people he’d looking for all day yesterday. But no matter that right now. Him and Momo Yaoyorozu were too busy running towards the boss fight, excited to see just what it held for the duo.

After what felt like such a short time, but was actually fifteen minutes of running, the two sat on the ground, panting as they leaned against a huge stone wall, which held the large ominous door the two had been looking for.

“You ready?” The girl asks.

“In just a second... I need a bit of a break before we challenge whatever is in there.”

“Alright.” And with that, she leaned over to lay on the ground, regaining her energy so they could run in, swords ready, and lunge at the boss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I never expected this thing to get much of any reads, but thank you! I know there are a lot of people who aren’t fans of SAO, but I plan to try and make this as entertaining as possible. And yes, I know Momo is 5’8, but I feel like when she looks at all the other girls in her classes, she gets self conscious about her height. All of the girls in 1-A are pretty short compared to her, and she’s the only taller female in the class. So, if she got to make her own avatar, I strongly believe she would make it shorter, trying to fit in with others, like how Izuku made himself taller since a lot of boys are on the taller end of the spectrum.  
>  Also, I’m sorry these chapters aren’t very long. I’ll work on fixing that in the future, but for while this story starts out, the chapters may be a bit shorter than a lot of the other stories you made read on this site. I’m used to shorter chapters on other sites, so that’s what I did when I first started writing. But ever since I got into Archives, I feel bad when I write short chapters. So please bear with me while I adjust to longer chapters 😅


	3. The First Floor Boss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku and Momo run into the boss fight, and quickly end up getting a tactic so they don’t die.

Izuku and Momo sat in the ground for another few minutes, regaining as much energy as possible. The greenette reached into his pocket, and tossed something at the girl, who clumsily caught it, and started inspecting the small item that was tossed at her.

“Candy.” The boy says, and watches as Momo takes it out of it’s thin wrapper, and plops it into her mouth. She seems happy with it, and Izuku says “I didn’t exactly plan on buying anything just yet, but I wanted to try some stuff out in the game, and see if it required any adjustments. I’m really impressed with how well the game has managed to put the sense of taste into the game, as well as feeling. This game truly is one of a kind.”

“This candy is so sweet! I thought that we just had to eat things for stamina. I never thought that we would actually be able to taste everything.”

“I know, right? They emailed me about that feature, and I was honestly shocked, and was wondering how they were even going to be able to accomplish such a feat. Cause I mean, it’s a _game_ , meant to just simulate a world to play around in, and ignore plenty of the physics that the world has naturally thrown at us. I mean, someone probably has a quirk that is able to simulate the sense of taste into the game. If not, then just how long have they spent figuring out how to do this? I mean-“ Izuku started going into a rant, his curiosity taking over, completely forgetting he was still next to someone, his mumbling no longer focused on a conversation with the girl. He would have continued, but Momo stopped him from mumbling even more.

“The creators personally email you?” She asks.

“Mhm. I’ve given a lot of suggestions for the game that they’ve ended up liking. I’m nobody special, so it really surprised me to be permitted to be a beta tester.” Izuku had been nervous to ask about the girl’s quirk, wondering if she was going to ask him about his nonexistent one. But he knew there was a question he had to ask, and she seemed like an understanding person. If he has to tell her, he’s almost positive she’ll be nice about it, and won’t act like Katsuki. “Hey, Yaoyorozu, can you try using your quirk. I need to make sure the game is covering up any quirk usage in the game.”

“Oh, yeah, of course!” She exclaims, rolling up her sleeve, her face focused as she tries to activate her quirk. “Ah, it’s not working.”

“Okay, thank you!” The boy says with a smile, happy that the coding was enough to block out any quirks.

“You’re not going to ask more about my quirk?” She asks.

“No. I don’t want to pry, and I don’t find it particularly important to talk about quirks a lot. Maybe one day when my interest is piqued enough that I can’t help but to want to write about it in my notebook, but in the meantime, you can keep it to yourself.” 

“Okay. I’m just so used to people always asking about my quirk in school, and whenever mom and dad invite people over. It just feels kinda weird for people to badger me until I tell them about it.” She tucks some of her hair behind her ear, likely not used to someone going “I don’t want to know about your quirk”.

“Would it make you feel better if I asked?”

“No no, it’s fine. It’s kinda nice.” She suddenly stands up, and holds her hand out to Izuku, saying “Are you ready to take down this boss?”

“Hell yeah.” He grabs the girl’s hand, and she quickly pulls him up. They open the large door, and enter the boss fight.

**< <Illfang the Kobold Lord>>**

**Health 100/100**

The beast was over two meters tall, red, muscular, and had a dog-like structure for its face. It’s eyes were a gleaming, bloodthirsty red, and in its hands, and held a shield in one, and an axe in the other. It was surrounded by plenty of minions, all wielding swords, ready to protect the boss.

“He’s huge…” Momo mutters. Izuku nods in agreement, unsheathing his sword. Momo does the same, and both lunge forward at the same time, trying to use the battle tactics they had learned from the manual, and form their fights with the animals. That’s practically all these guys were: just big animals.

The minions were pretty easy for the most part, on dealing a bit of damage. It was the boss the two had to look out for as it swung its axe, and blocked our attacks with a shield. He was definitely a boss meant to be taken down by a bigger team of players.

Izuku and Momo took down the last minion, and then turned to face the boss.

“Momo, try to circle around the boss. Let’s try to confuse it, or make it dizzy. Just in case, we’ll be in opposite directions so one of us will always be able to hit a vulnerable spot, and should be able to dodge that shield.” Izuku mutters, getting a nod in agreement from the girl. They lunge towards the boss, and Izuku let’s Momo start running to the opposite side first. The boss starts to turn towards her, and Izuku takes this as an opportunity to attack it. He deals some damage, but not a lot, and is quickly knocked back from the shield. Momo does the same as him, and uses the opportunity to attack.

This goes on for a while before the boss finally starts to catch on, and throws Momo back with the sword, and Izuku back with its shield. Both teens hit the ground with a thud, and quickly get back up again, not going to waste any time checking their health bar.

The boss put its sword in the air, and quickly started to bring it down to Izuku. That was when the door slammed open, and more players flooded in, staring in shock at the two teens. The boss stopped it’s sword right in front of Izuku, turning its attention to the hoard of new players here to challenge it. The duo lunges at the boss again, dealing some more damage. The boss screams out in fury, turning in a circle to knock everyone back with its tail.

“Fighting style?” Someone asks Izuku. The greenette looks up at the other player, who was already standing again.

“More offensive, and it seems to rely on its minions for support. But they’re all gone, so it seems to be trying to tucker us out, and deal a fatal blow here and there.”

“Got it. Here kid, take this.” The man hands Izuku some fruit, and says “Your health is getting dangerously low. I know this is a game, and you can just revive, but I don’t want any of your progress to go back, kid.”

“Thank you, uh…” Izuku recognizes this guy, and is trying to put a finger on it. That was when it hit him right before the man was going to give his name, and Izuku says “Ingenium, right?”

“Yeah! Go ahead and call me Iida, kid.” The man holds out a hand, helping Izuku up before calling out to everyone else, warning them about the boss’s fighting style. Izuku was just about ready to go into full out fanboy mode as he stood in front of one of his idols, a famous hero who has taken down so many people, and is ridiculously fast. Not to mention, the pro just gave Izuku part of the man’s name. Oh, the greenette felt so honored, but he couldn’t waste much of his time on that. He made sure to quickly eat the apple he was given, and then lunged back into the fight.

As Ingenium dealt the final blow, a chest appeared in the middle. Iida walked up to it, and began to open it. From the chest appeared a message.

**< <The true prize for the final blow will appear to the player who dealt the final blow, but until the beta testing phase is over, the prize here won’t be too special. So everyone gets restored health, and the player who dealt the final blow gets their own mini prize.>>**

“Oh, nice.” Iida says as he held a new sword. All the players watched their health bars go up again with a sigh of relief, and gawked at the sword the player held.

“Now, Momo, what did we say about running off and starting the boss fight on your own?” Someone says.

“Not to… but I ran into him-“ Momo points at Izuku before continuing “-and he was already headed there. So while I waited for you guys to make your decision, I started the mission with him.”

“It was dangerous, and you know it.” The player who was scolding Momo says.

“I know… but I was just getting bored.” The girl complains before muttering an apology.

“Now you, who are you boy? How come I haven’t seen you in the church yet?” The person turns to Izuku, storming over.

“I-I, er, we-well, I’m j-j-just n-no-nobody imp-important!” Izuku exclaims, his hands waving through the air as if to plead for mercy. “I di-didn’t see any o-other players! S-so I was just fi-fighting the a-animals…”

“Rock Lock, buddy, calm down! Can’t you tell he’s just a kid, and you’re scaring the poor guy.” Ingenium tells the man, who grumbles in frustration. Izuku’s face goes red from embarrassment, and he quickly curls up on the ground. _God_ , he hated being called out and being the center of everyone’s attention. “Sorry about him, kid. Rock Lock is frequently just a frustrated guy when it comes to teenagers.”

Izuku looks up from the little ball of safety he curled himself into, and stands up. “Yeah, it’s fine. Nothing I’m not used to.”

Momo then skips over, and wraps her arms around Izuku to give him a friendly hug.

“We did iiiit!” Momo exclaims. Izuku smiles, and replies. “We really did, didn’t we?”

“I thought that was going to be much harder, but I guess that since this is the first floor, it is going to seem easy.”

“We also got a whole bunch more people in here to help out in just the nick of time.”

“Yeah, you can thank us later.” Iida says, a smug grin plastered on his face. After that, everyone started heading out of the boss fight, and towards the new door that the fight had permitted the players access to. As Ingenium opened it, in honors of him being the final blow, the party was welcomed to the second floor.

“Whew, I’m gonna log out. I should be having dinner soon.” Momo says as she stretches, her arms high over her head.

“Me too. Can I assume I’ll see you tomorrow?” Izuku asks, pulling up his logout button.

“Definitely.” She gives Izuku a bright smile before she logs out, and Izuku does the same. His eyes flutter open to reveal his room, an orange light filtered through the windows, giving everything an orange glow.

Izuku sits up, slipping off the nerve gear, and starting to head towards his bedroom door. He walks towards the kitchen, where he watches his mom serve come curry into bowls.

“Hey, mama.” Izuku greets as he walks over to give his mom a hug. She turns to hug him too, planting a soft kiss into his forehead. Izuku loves the affection his mother gives him, simply because she is one of the only people who ever gives a warm smile. However, now, she isn’t the only one. The pro hero, Ingenium gave him a bright smile, and so did Momo. Izuku hopes to get to consider them as friends, and he hopes that they’ll never care that he’s quirkless. Maybe, just maybe, Izuku can meet them in person, and they’ll look past his short stature, and ignore his lack of a quirk, and just spend time with him as they would anyone else. That’s Izuku’s dream for his future. That’s what he wants.


	4. The Third Floor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katsuki is getting pissed off with Izuku, and everyone celebrates the completion of the second floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry this update took so long! I got some writers block, and got stuck on other fan fictions. But, I hope this update makes up for it.

“Have you heard that the beta testers finally beat the first floor yesterday?” Someone said in Izuku’s classroom. 

“Took them long enough. I’m ready to play the game, man.” Another person says with a sigh.

“Well they’ve still got ninety-nine other floors dumbasses.” Katsuki adds in, scoffing at the stupidity of the others. “But they did take too fucking long. They better get all the other damn floors done much quicker.”

“Are you suggesting that they never take a break, and they just keep on fighting?”

“Pretty much. They should be able to do that, especially since, from what I’ve heard, there are pros in Sword Art Online. They aren’t giving out the damn pro’s names, but we know they’re some in there.” Katsuki replies. Izuku buries his head into his arms, not willing to look up as everyone discussed the updates the game had provided to the people anxiously waiting for the game’s release. “Pros are meant for combat, and they should be perfectly fine going up against some digital boss levels.”

“Well, I heard a rumor that the game isn’t allowing quirks. I think that puts them at a major disadvantage.”

“Pro heroes are meant to adapt. Clearly, I’m the only one that understands that shit, and so I’ll be the only person here with the capabilities to be a pro hero. The fact you’re all third years and don’t understand that shit is pitiful.” Katsuki finally turns his attention away from his classmates as the bell rings, signaling all teachers to walk in and start class. Izuku stayed quiet, letting Katsuki answer all of the class’ questions, while Izuku silently filled in his assignments' questions.

Once class ended, Izuku hurriedly packed all his stuff together, and then ran towards the door. Katsuki glanced over to the greenette, wondering why the small male was in such a hurry. Sure, he usually rushes out so he can try to dodge Katsuki, but today, Izuku just seemed more excited than usual. In fact, that’s how it’s been the past few days.

Katsuki wanted answers, so he chased after.

* * *

After being cornered by Katsuki, Izuku laid on the ground for a second, then slowly sat up, looking left and right for the blonde. Katsuki had insisted that Izuku tell him what he was so excited about, and Izuku knew he couldn’t use the same excuse as he did earlier, where he said he was having dinner with his mom. So instead, he said that he was getting some more All Might merch in the mail, which resulted in a lot of laughing from the people surrounding Izuku.

Said boy slung his backpack back onto his shoulder, and brushed the dirt off his uniform, straightening it up a bit. He then ran home, not wanting to be late, and end up missing Momo. So when he got home, he quickly took off his shoes, greeted his mother, and jumped into the game without changing into some more comfortable clothes.

As soon as his game loaded, Momo was already there, and gave him a hug.

“There you are! I was wondering if you were going to end up skipping!” She exclaims, a wide smile covering her face. Izuku grinned back, nervously scratching the back of his head as he replied with “Sorry. I got caught up with some schoolwork.”

“We should exchange numbers so we can update each other in case anything happens.” She says, quickly pulling up her menu to go to the chat button. She types in the numbers on the hovering keypad, and with a final tap, Izuku gets the notification, quickly clicking on it. He repeats those numbers constantly in his head so that he can have it memorized, and then types in his own. After he sends it, he chants the number in his head some more.

_ I just got a girl’s number! _ Izuku internally screams.

“Thank you!” Momo says, closing her menu. Izuku does the same, and then asks “So is there anything that has been discussed, or anything interesting that has happemed since I’ve been gone?”

“Well, more people found the second floor boss, and from what I’ve heard, they’re still up fighting it. They’re going to tire out soon though, and need to rest up. So, our team that fought the first floor boss should be running in soon to take care of it if they don’t get that boss completed soon.”

“Ohh, okay. I’m surprised the fight has been going on that long in the first place.”

“Maybe they just need you and me to use our smarts and beat it.” Momo says with a grin. Izuku smiles, and says “Heh, maybe they do.”

“Ah well, I’m getting some food. I heard that there’s a good market nearby that sells some amazing sweets!”

“Really, what kind?”

“Cupcakes, cakes, pastries, and come cinnamon rolls. But from what I know about you, eating those cinnamon rolls would be cannibalism.” She says with a smug grin, turning to walk off, leaving a red-faced Izuku standing there, rummaging through his brain for words. Not finding any, he runs after the girl, following her to the small market.

As they got their deserts, they walked around the cobbled streets, every once in awhile greeting another beta player. As they were finishing up, Izuku licking the frosting off of his fingers, they passed Tensei, who ran up, excitedly waving towards the two.

“Hey! I was wondering where you two were!” Tensei says as he stands in front of the two.

“What’s up?” Momo asks.

“Well, nothing much. Although, we are ready to take over in the boss raid in about ten minutes. Those other guys still haven’t walked out. You two kids sure you wanna run in there though?” Tensei replies.

“Mhm. We’re players, just like everyone else here. We don’t plan on being underestimated because of our age.” Izuku replies, Momo nodding in agreement. Someone else then runs up, out of breath. They sit on the ground for a second, the trio waiting for the person to be able to speak.

“I-Ingenium s-s-ir.” The person begins, only for Tensei to hold up his hand, and then saying “Iida. Now continue, cause we have a boss raid soon.”

“Rig-right. About that… god it took so long to find you… whew… they beat the boss. Everyone is headed up to the third floor to celebrate.” The person says as they slowly start to stand up again.

“Really? Nice! Well, what are we waiting for!? Let’s go!” Tensei starts to run, making the person who just ran all this way groan in despair. While Momo ran ahead, Izuku helped the person up the rest of the way, and said “I can carry you if you want.”

“No no, I need to work on my stamina anyway. C’mon, kid. Don’t want to let those two get ahead.” The guy jerks his head to the direction the two were in, signaling for Izuku to go ahead. Izuku gives a small nod, and then runs towards Tensei and Momo, listening for the sound of feet meeting cobblestone to make sure the person was following. When he finally heard it, he grinned, and then ran faster.

Once everyone reached the third floor, they were all meeting at the tallest trees, made into multiple floors to house players in the woodland area. There was a large table everyone was gathered around, either sitting down, standing near it, or just randomly scattered around the room. There were so many players in here, making Izuku anxious.

“I swear it was horrifying! That boss was some insane Minotaur, swinging around its hammer at everyone!” Someone who clearly fought in the boss fight said.

“Heheh, yeah right. I bet you guys were just too scared after looking it in the eyes. Must’ve just stood there so it could kill you multiple times.” Someone else said.

“We did not! That thing was tough! You try fighting against it! Besides, we were up against the second floor boss. You lot were up against the first floor boss, which must’ve been a lot easier.” The person who was describing the boss protested.

“Actually, most of us weren’t even in that fight. For you guys to have a whole team there the whole time, that fight should have been done much quicker. Two teenagers actually did most of the damage on that first floor boss, and we came in at the last second, stopping those kids from getting killed.” Tensei adds in, placing himself into the conversation now.

“Oh really? How many times did they die?” A woman asks, sipping what looked to Izuku like wine from her glass.

“None at all!” Momo says, skipping up. “And by the way, I’m one of those teenagers. It’s nice to meet you!”

Momo held out her hand to the shocked woman, who seemed like she was about to ask “Then where are these kids anyway”, and then hesitantly took the young girl’s hand. 

“Nice to meet you. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders if you were able to beat that boss with only one other player. Is your friend online?” The woman asks, setting down her glass. Momo gives a bright smile, nodding as she skips over to Izuku, grabbing his arm and bringing him over.

“This is Midoriya! The two of us took down that boss.” Momo says, trying to remain generous as she talks about it, but steadily very excited. Her cheeks turn a bit pink before she mumbles “With more help in the end of course. I’m sure we wouldn’t have been able to do it without everyone else’s help.”

Izuku’s cheeks were a bright red yet again today, nervous to be in front of so many people, interested about how he and Momo did a lot of damage against the first floor boss. “I-I mean, it-it was k-k-kinda easy if y-yo-you studied its a-attack pattern enough.”

Izuku was looking at the ground, trying to avoid all eye contact so he didn’t have to suddenly panic and run off. That was when Tensei put his gloved hand on the top of Izuku’s head, ruffling the boy’s straight hair, making it a mess. Izuku jumped from the sudden contact, and when Tensei moved his hand, Izuku quickly neatened his hair, still staring at his boots.

“You remind me of my little brother sometimes, Midoriya. He can get nervous in front of people too. Although, he tries to hide it a lot, and puffs out his chest to look all big. Maybe you should try that sometime.” Tensei says, trying to help Izuku, who just shakes his head, and says “I could never.”

“Well, I’m gonna log out and go to bed. My dog is bound to be waiting for me.” The woman says, pulling up her menu screen.

“Goodnight.” Momo and Izuku say, waving to the woman. She returns a small wave, and then logs out, disappearing into some sparkles. Others seem to take that as their cue, and start logging out as well. Soon, it was just the people who had beaten the first boss left in the room, which means there were about one-hundred players left.

“Alright guys, what are we waiting for!? We’ve got a third floor boss to find, and side quests to complete on this floor!” Tensei shouts with a bright smile. A chorus of “Yeah!” and “Let’s do it!”s were echoed around the room before everyone ran out into the large forest, headed to level up and find more equipment and goods.


	5. The Youngest Iida

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku only has to wait one more day to play the game with the world, but yet he gets another threat from Katsuki, only to have a smile brought into his face again later. He then gets a call from Momo, getting to meet Tenya Iida.

The day to release the game to everyone else was getting extremely close, and all beta testers had finally reached the last boss, only to find out that the last fifty bosses were just to fill in for the later bosses as a way to surprise the beta testers. The zone for the bosses was also moved to make it a bit more of a challenge. Izuku wanted to test out these changes, but the programmers insisted they had it, and were going to fix the recent issue that popped up. 

The last day the beta testers were permitted to play until the release, the logout button was lagging. Everything else was loading perfectly fine, but the logout button took a second to pop up and let the beta testers out of the game. So, Izuku emailed the programmers about it, and they said they were going to fix the issue.

As Izuku walked to school, the streets were full of excited and happy people, excitedly waiting for the release of the game tomorrow. Izuku could hear people talking about how they were ready to go to bed, or were going to just stand outside of the gaming store to wait for the doors to unlock and let customers pour in. Luckily for all the students, the release of the game was on a weekend, a day where all students could relax at home and play their game.

During the time Izuku and Momo were beta testing, they had texted and called frequently, but never met up. Their schedules were always too busy, and their free time was usually spent in the game. So, they basically considered playing the game together as their meetups. However, no matter how long they spent playing, Izuku made sure nobody ever found out about his quirklessness. He didn’t want to risk the only friends he got turning their backs on him because they had quirks, and he didn’t. That was usually how it went in the real world, so who wouldn’t do the same in the game if they found out?

As the greenette walked down the streets, dodging people as often as he could since they weren’t paying much attention, or just didn’t see him because of his height, he received a call. His ringtone was down most of the way, but that didn’t stop him from getting embarrassed as he heard the soft All Might ringtone from his backpack.

Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he checked the caller ID, and smiled when he saw it was Momo calling him. He answered, and said “Hello?”

“Hey! Just wanted to call you before I got to school, and wish you luck!”

“Aw, thanks! Good luck to you too with school. Wait- why am I getting good luck today? It’s just another day of school…” Izuku questioned.

“You told me you had a math test today. I wanted to wish you luck on that.” Izuku’s face blanked at her words, completely forgetting about the test. “You forgot about it, didn’t you? And now you didn’t get any study time?”

“Yeah…” After a moment of silence, Izuku quickly said “But I’m sure I can still pass!”

“You better! I know if I failed something because I forgot to study, my mom and dad wouldn’t let me play the game until my grade was fixed, and I don’t know what your mom would do.”

“She’d probably wonder what’s wrong since I usually pass my stuff, but eh, I’ll be fine. I’ll make sure I remember everything, and I’ll study in my homeroom for a bit.”

“Alright. Well, I’ve got to go since I’m close to school. Bye, Midoriya.”

“Bye bye.” Izuku then hangs up after wishing her farewell. He spots his school, and tucks his phone back into his backpack, speeding onto the school’s property. He notices Katsuki, so he tries to dart out of the blonde’s view, accidentally running into someone else. He quickly mutters an apology, running off without making sure the person is alright just in case if they were someone ready to beat him up at the sight of him.

Being quirkless with practically the whole school knowing, and the quirkless people generally treated as someone barely human these days, Izuku has to be careful, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble he could get into? Kids would quickly blame him for everything, or say something he did on accident was intentional. Therefore, he has to try and get away before someone could completely register who he was.

He made sure to be more careful after that, carefully stepping past everyone as he darted into his classroom, relaxing as soon as he sat down and had his head placed on his arms. After a few moments of calming down, he quietly pulled out his notes, going over all the methods in the math problem. Algebra was not a favorite of his, but he knew how to do it. That was all that really mattered.

All of his classmates slowly poured into the room, all of them ready for the weekend. Their homeroom teacher droned on about what events were occurring soon, about how everyone needed to start really thinking about what high school to go to, which led to Katsuki dissing the whole class, and cornering Izuku later to shoot down the greenette’s dreams.

Naturally, Katsuki just couldn’t leave Izuku alone, and so as Izuku scrolled through his phone to look at the day’s hero fights, pulling out his notebook to take notes on the quirks of some of the new pros, like Mt.Lady, Katsuki walked up. The blonde snatched the notebook from the younger boy’s hands, presenting it to Katsuki’s “friends” behind him. They snickered as they read the title out loud, and Izuku mumbled “Hey, give it back.”

Katsuki took the notebook out of the other’s view, exploding the notebook right in front of Izuku’s face before the blonde tossed the notebook out the window. The permanently angry teenager then placed his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, making small little explosions out of the palm of his hand to burn the boy’s shoulder, a trail of smoke rising as Katsuki warns the younger boy about even trying to get into the U.A. exams or the upcoming game.

“Deku, don’t even try to get into U.A., or else. And also, make sure you don’t join the game. I don’t want some quirkless trash dragging everyone down as I kick that game’s ass tomorrow. I’ll do better than those ducking betaa testers, and I’ll be the highest ranked person there. Not that you would get to know though, since you’ll be sitting at home whining about being a quirkless little shit.” Katsuki said, letting go of Izuku’s shoulder before he began to walk out, stopping at the doorway to give one last remark. “You know, if you really want a quirk so badly, why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof, and hope for a quirk in your next life?”

Izuku quickly turned to face the blonde in an attempt to protest against those words, but quickly cowered away as the blonde made small explosions in his hand as a warning. After watching the blonde head out, Izuku grabbed his belongings, beginning to walk down to the small pond that he heard his notebook get dropped into. 

Wiping the tears from his eyes, he said “You can’t just tell people to kill themselves, Kacchan.”

Retrieving the notebook, his phone buzzed, and he slowly pulled it out from his backpack.

______

**Yaoyorozu:** Hey! Just wanted to check on you and see how school was for you today. Do you know if you passed that math test or not? 😄

______

With a smile, Izuku began to reply to the message.

______

No. Not yet. I’m sure I’ll figure it out after the weekend.

**Yaoyorozu:** Alrighty. You ready to play the game tomorrow?

Mhm!

**Yaoyorozu:** Good. I’m excited to see all the new players. I think Ingenium said he was going to have his brother try out the game, so Ingenium’s character is gonna be his little brother for the day.

Really? How did you hear about that?

**Yaoyorozu:** My dad told me. He talks to the Iida family frequently, and I already told him I’ve played the game with Ingenium. Heads up though, Tensei’s brother is suuuuper serious about rules and stuff.

Okay. Thanks for letting me know 🙂

**Yaoyorozu:** Anytime!

______

Izuku put his phone away, a smile on his face as he remembered he always had Momo to talk to. That could be the good part of his day today. While yes today had been a disaster after being told to off himself, he had Momo text him almost immediately after as if she knew something was wrong.

  
  


* * *

Momo stepped past the gate to her home, excitedly skipping up to her room. She greeted the servants on her way there, and even asked them where her parents were. Naturally, they left on another business trip without telling her first. 

She walked into her large room, pulling her hair out of its ponytail, letting her long black hair fall over her shoulders. She walked over to her bed, sitting there as she took out her phone, beginning to scroll through her notifications. There were plenty of emails from school, her friends, and the game creators for Sword Art Online, updating her about things the game was doing in preparation for the release of the game.

Someone then suddenly called her, and she answered, prepared to direct someone to her father’s phone instead of hers like usual. However, when she heard a Tensei, she smiled from ear to ear.

“Hey, Yaoyorozu. Are you ready for the game release tomorrow?” He asked.

“Definitely! I already messaged Midoriya about it, and he should be in the game tomorrow. Are you still having your brother play?” She asks, wanting to make sure she was going to address Tensei’s avatar as Tenya instead.

“Yep! I actually called so you two could get to know each other. I have him sitting right here next to me. I would get him to meet Midoriya too, but I don’t have the kid’s number.”

“Ohhh, then let me make a group chat with the two of you real quick so we can call there. I’ll hang up real quick, and then call back.”

“Alright then.” The girl then hangs up, rushing to make the group chat. As soon as it’s done, she taps the call button, smiling as the Iidas quickly pick up, shortly followed by Izuku.

“Hello?” Izuku says, not sure what was going on, or who the other caller was.

“Hey, Midoriya! Yaoyorozu got a call set up for all of us so you could get to know my little brother a bit before you play the game with him!” Tensei informs.

“Mhm!” Momo confirms.

“Ohhh, okay!” Momo could practically hear Izuku’s wide smile after hearing what Tensei said, but she didn’t linger on it for too long before saying “So, Tenya, how are you?”

“I’m doing alright.” The boy replies, his tone unintentionally bringing on a sense that he liked to be in charge, and already thought of the game to be a waste of time.

“Not much of a talker, are you?” Momo asks.

“Not really. What do you find so entertaining about the game that you play it every day, nonstop?” Tenya asks.

“Tenya! Be nice about it!” Tensei scolds.

“Well, it’s unique, and provides a new world to people that they can feel like they truly are in. There are so many unique features, and everyone is generally treated as equals. It’s really sweet.” Izuku replies, trying to avoid the harshness in Tenya’s voice.

“So are you saying you prefer the digital world?” Tenya asks.

“Sometimes, yes.” Izuku replies. Momo never asked Izuku about his life outside of the digital world, other than the occasional questions about him having homework or not. So, his reply made her want to question him later, just not when they were trying to get to know someone else instead. “Iida-kun, I think you’ll really like the game. It truly is amazing.”

“Well, I’ll try it out, and will attempt to enjoy myself.” Tenya replies.

“Yay!” Izuku and Momo cheer, excited to play with someone new right off the bat tomorrow.

“Oh, so you can complain about it to me, but you’ll just go ‘Oh yeah, you think the world is amazing, so I’ll just smile and agree’ with them!? That is so unfair!” Tensei fusses at his brother, making Izuku and Momo grin, never having heard sibling rivalry, but having heard of it from their classmates who do have siblings.

“Well, you just wanted me to play. Besides, I will not be rude to people I have never met.” Tenya replies to his brother.

“So you admit you’re being rude!” 

“Wait- no no! I did not intend to be rude to you, brother! I deeply apologize!” Izuku and Momo both started laughing, continuing the rest of the conversation in peace, getting to know the youngest of the Iida family.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, due to the time Izuku spent texting Momo, he did miss out on the sludge villain attack, which later on got caught by All Might before it could do any serious damage. This means both a Izuku and Katsuki never got touched by the sludge villain that day.


	6. The Game’s Release

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is finally in the game, and while Izuku, Momo, and Tenya talk, and unexpected visitor arrives and makes his demands.

Izuku stayed at home the day of the game’s release, patiently waiting in his computer until lunch, the time Momo, Tenya, and himself had agreed to meet up and play the game. He impatiently spun around in the chair while rewatching All Might’s big debut for the tenth time today. He wondered if his mom was getting annoyed by the constant background chatter of the video, and All Might’s notorious “I am here!”

_ Will All Might end up playing today? That would be really cool… but now that I think about it, his schedule will probably be too busy _ . Izuku thinks as his head slowly turns to face the ceiling. He once more looked at the watch on his wrist, sighing as he took a mental note that he still had to wait another half hour.

“Izuku?” His mom calls as she softly knocks on his door. The boy quickly hops out of the seat, and runs to his door. 

“Yeah, mom?” He asks, watching his mom’s face shift into a gentle smile.

“Do you want to eat before you’re busy playing all day? I don’t want you to have to wait until dinner to eat while you stress yourself out about being around so many people in the game.” The woman gently says. Izuku nods, and follows his mother down the small hallway to the kitchen, where she handed him a bowl filled with food.

“Don’t you think this is a bit much for lunch?” Izuku asks as he hesitantly picks up the bowl.

“Well I planned on letting you play a bit longer, and making dinner an hour later. I want to make sure you’re not too hungry.” She replies as Izuku sits down, starting to eat the meal. The mother sits across from her boy, eating her own smaller portion of said meal. 

The time slowly ticked by, and every couple minutes as Izuku ate his meal, he would glance at his watch. The second his food was done, he jumped up, and quickly rinsed, then washed his bowl. With a few minutes left, he decided to try and get there a bit early, running to his room to get all the nerve gear on. He tapped all required parts of his body, and then jumped into the game. He was greeted by a city filled to the brim with people, all excitedly bustling around as most of them were seeing the world for the first time.

“Kinda sucks that I can’t show my quirk off in here.” A girl mumbles as she walks by.

“I agree. There’s so many people I would love to show it off to here, and I’m sure it would help me level up faster. I don’t even  _ know _ how to  _ hold _ a sword properly.” The other girl says with a sigh. Izuku just rolled his eyes before darting into a nearby restaurant, the one Tensei and Momo has frequently met up with him at multiple times before.

Izuku hated the fact he was bad to square one in the game, but at least he could say that he’s had experience, and can probably get a lot done much faster. His clothes were back to the plain garments every player had to wear. While yes, there were a variety of options, they were all the same in stats and the amount of protection the wearer would receive. Therefore, Izuku called them all the same.

“There you are!” A familiar voice calls as the door opens, the bell above giving it’s little chime. Momo had her arm wrapped around a familiar figure, but Izuku immediately noticed the change in the posture and attitude of Tensei’s avatar. Tenya Iida sure is something different compared to his brother. “You got impatient and came into the game earlier, didn’t you?”

“Mhm. I swear I did everything I could think of to pass the time.” Izuku replies, watching Tenya look around the world with interest. “Have you seen anything interesting here, Iida-kun?”

“Now that I’m here, it all seems interesting. It feels as though I am actually in this world, which is quite fascinating. What does this place sell?” Tenya asks.

“Well, nothing we can buy right now. It’s a sweets place, but none of us have any of the money we earned from the beta testing. Our saves were cleared before the game was officially released.” Momo explains as she walks Tenya over to the table Izuku was sitting at.

“Ah, I see.” Tenya replies, seeming slightly disappointed. “How do you get money in here then?”

“By finishing some side-missions, helping out NPCs, and killing monsters. The boss levels are always the jackpot though.” Izuku quickly replies as he lays his head onto his hand.

“Speaking of.” Momo turns to look at Izuku with a wide smile, and then says “Do you want to go ahead and teach Tenya a bit about fighting those small monsters? I’m sure it’ll be nice for him to have mentors.”

“Please do teach me how to play this game!” Tenya asks as he gets up and bows. Momo lightly hits his head, and says “No need to be so formal! Get up, and go ahead and relax. You’re so tensed up.” 

“I apologize.” He says as he goes into another bow, resulting in the other two teenagers rolling their eyes. “Also, Yaoyorozu, I’ve been wondering.”

“What is it?” She asks.

“Why is it you’ve changed your appearance so much from how you actually look?” Tenya asks, and Izuku watches the girl flush into a bright red, quickly bringing her hands to her cheeks as she tries to hide it.

“W-well, I-I just… NO REASON!” She quickly stutters out. Izuku didn’t want to pry because he had changed his appearance too to feel more confident in himself. He didn’t exactly want to talk about himself either, yet he felt bad for his friend since she had someone call her out on it to someone she’s never  _ actually _ met face-to-face. They haven’t even video called before! But here Tenya was, asking her a question that clearly made her uncomfortable, so Izuku said “I changed my appearance too. It just gives me more confidence when playing. We know this game isn’t all about fashion and looks, it just helps to be able to change yourself more to your or other’s preference when playing with hundreds of other people you don’t even know.”

“Yeah, and sometimes, it’s just nice to get rid of some insecurities.” Momo adds, and Tenya nods as he understands where the duo is coming from.

“I suppose I cannot say much either since I  _ am _ using my brother’s avatar, and he had made a few changes to his appearance as well. Not too many, but yes, he has made changes.” Tenya says as he looks down at the avatar his elder brother had used so many times before. “I apologize if I embarrassed you, Yaoyorozu.”

“That line took fucking forever! I swear, I was ready to blow all those extras away after how long that shit took.” A familiar voice says from just outside the restaurant. Izuku’s eyes widen before he quickly mumbles to the other two “Please please please don’t address me if that kid comes in.”

“Why?” The two ask together. As the door opens, letting in Katsuki Bakugo and his goons that had gotten into the game too, Izuku lowers his head a bit, before making it seem like he had been in a conversation for a while. “Heheh, yeah! I suppose it would be really cool if certain quirks were permitted if they couldn’t do any damage! We should really meet in person sometime!”

Izuku lowered his usually squeaky voice to make it even harder for Katsuki to recognize the greenette. Momo was the first to start playing along as well.

“I agree. I can DM you guys someplace to meet up later if you don’t mind, and then we can- EEP!” She squeals as Katsuki slams his hands on the trio’s table, all three teenagers jumping in shock. “C-can we h-he-help you?”

“Yeah. Can you guys shut the fuck up? You’re getting on my last nerve. Now do you guys have any money I can borrow to buy some shit from here?” Katsuki asks.

“No, not right now.” Momo replies, looking at the blonde nervously. Katsuki hadn’t changed anything about himself, his character still remained the same as his real life self. Katsuki’s confidence was always something Izuku looked up to, yet never could summon himself. So here Izuku was cowering behind the looks that he was able to give himself in the game.

“Besides, shouldn’t you earn the money yourself? You should be able to earn the money yourself by defeating monsters and doing tasks.” Tenya adds, clearly more built for situations like this, especially compared to the other two.

“Tch, fine.” Katsuki then turns to the two following him, and says “Let’s go, extras. I need to make sure Deku isn’t trailing around.” The trio walked out, and Izuku let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“Midoriya-kun, who was that, and what was that all about?” Momo quickly asks once Katsuki and his group were out of sight.

“He’s just someone I need to avoid right now. We go to school together and aren’t… on the best of terms.” Izuku quickly explains.

“Are you okay, Midoriya?” Tenya asks. Izuku just nods as he slowly gets up, and says “Let’s go beat some of those monsters, yeah?”

“Yeah.” The other two quietly say together, watching as Izuku walks by. They get up and follow, but not before giving each other a concerned glance for their friend.

Momo and Izuku walked over to the area they were so familiar with, and helped teach Tenya a bit on how to hold the sword, and the best tactics for fighting the monsters on this floor. Momo and Izuku were getting plenty of money, making sure to be careful to not get attacked. While the duo always had the privilege of just resurrecting and running off to do whatever, they never liked to die in the game, and made sure to do everything they could to avoid such a fate. Meanwhile, they had to continuously help Tenya with his posture.

“You don’t want to be too stiff. You want to be able to easily just swipe at it with your sword, and it shouldn’t be too jerky. You won’t be able to improve the swing like that just in case there is a scenario where you need to do that.” Izuku says before giving Tenya another example as another beast was quickly taken down. Momo then gracefully took down another, leaving Tenya gawking as he tried to take another swing at his opponent. It backed up, but not before the tip of Tenya’s sword grazed its nose. It squeaked in pain before preparing itself to charge. “You’re doing better, just loosen up more.”

Tenya nods, and then swings once more at the beast, happily getting a killing blow on the beast. The trio cheered before Momo clapped her hands together and said “We should have plenty of money to get a few snacks now! Let’s go!” With that, they walked back into the city where hundreds of people were chattering about the game.

“He hasn’t come back since he died. It’s been almost an hour, and he isn’t even popping up on my friends list.” Someone said. Izuku heard a similar comment from someone else, and then another. He was getting worried, wondering if the game was just glitching out, or if the bad feeling in his gut actually meant something bad was happening.

“Momo…” Izuku starts, worriedly looking around at the people walking around the city.

“Yeah, I hear. Just stick close. These people may have just had to log out unexpectedly, or the game is glitching with all the new players.” She says as they slip into the restaurant they were in when they first logged in.

“I just have a bad feeling about this.” He says as he walks over to the counter, getting some hot chocolate. As he finished, he was suddenly teleported into the town’s square, and watched as everyone else was gradually teleported there too. He spotted Momo and Tenya elsewhere in the crowd, and he watched as a large, red, hooded figure summoned itself over the crowd, and started to speak. All Izuku could do was watch as the news articles were pulled up to discuss the deaths of hundreds of Sword Art Online players, and how it was the definite truth that they would all literally die if they were to die in the game. And as the figure warped away with his warning, his final present was to take away all changes everyone had made to their characters, reverting everyone to their original appearance.

Izuku ran. He ran out of that crowd faster than anyone as he pulled up his menu screen, surprised, yet not surprised at the same time to see the logout button not there. Would his mother be waiting expectantly for Izuku to come downstairs for dinner, or did she already hear the news? How was she taking this? Was dinner almost done, or was it already sitting on the table getting cold?

His feet were getting sore from all the running, so he just found himself slipping into an alleyway, hiding there and crying,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long 😅 I needed to get out some of my other story ideas by typing them down and publishing them so I could have full focus on this. But I hope you enjoyed the update, and I’ll try to update again next week if my schedule permits! ☺️😁


	7. Late Night Stress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo and Tenya look for their friend, but aren’t successful in finding the greenette. Meanwhile, Izuku meets someone familiar once more, and is nervous about the decision he made when they parted ways.

Momo knew one thing for sure, and that was that Izuku Midoriya was no coward. So naturally, she got scared when she lost sight of him. She nervously fiddled with her clothes as she walked through the crowd alongside Tenya. Everyone was panicking so much, and through the nervousness, Momo could tell that there were other people amongst herself, who were worried about people judging them for how they actually look.

"BULLSHIT! THAT'S WHAT THIS IS!" A familiar voice shouts. Momo turns into that direction, noticing how even the appearance was familiar. It was the angry blonde from the restaurant, and he was clearly pissed about being trapped into the game alongside thousands of other players. One of his friends tried to reach out, but was quickly pushed away by the angry boy.

"Midoriya seemed familiar with that boy. Maybe we can ask him to help us find Midoriya. After all, if those two know each other in real life, then that boy can help us find Midoriya." Tenya suggests.

"No. Midoriya isn't on good terms with that kid. You saw how he shrunk down and changed his voice's pitch to go unrecognized. It would be best to keep Midoriya off that boy's radar." Momo reasons. Tenya just nods, and they look around, trying to see if there was anyone who would look at the two with the slightest hint of recognition, and the duo also kept their ears open for the familiar voice of their friend.

There was sobbing, shouting, words of consolation, and muttering amongst the large crowd. They were slowly breaking apart, leaving the teleportation gate plaza to either hide deeper into the city, or to go and train by fighting the beasts lurking outside the city walls.

Very few went on the path to train themselves. The whole concept of actually dying in this game kept people extra wary of the grassy field outside their safety. The duo decided to check out there later for their friend, knowing how much he enjoyed the excitement of leveling up as he defeated the monsters. However, based on the situation, it was wisest to check in the city first.

They creeped through the streets, checking through the windows of all the buildings, and peeking into alleyways to find a familiar voice, or somewhat familiar face. Friends were all walking side-by-side, either trying to console each other, or crying together. 

“To help narrow it down, even though we are all in the standard clothing, we have a general idea of what his clothes look like. And since we were able to choose the color for the clothes, that is why I am saying we can narrow it down a bit more.” Tenya says.

“That’s true. And I hate to say it, but he’s probably going to be one of the few people alone. He only really talked to us, and everyone else is teaming up with their friends to stay safe.” Momo adds.

“There  _ are _ very few people who decided they wanted to be alone. So these little hints are definitely a lot of help.”

“Agreed.” More walking. The streets slowly started to empty as people tried to find their own little sanctuary to hide in as the city darkened. Izuku probably bought himself a place to stay in for the night as well, or was probably asleep, so searching this late would definitely be difficult. “Iida.”

“Yes, Yaoyorozu?” Tenya turns to face the girl, who had stopped in her tracks, so he did too.

“I hate to say it, but we should turn in for the night. We can try to find him tomorrow. After all, he may be in bed himself. If not, and if he is just hiding in an alleyway, those will be too dark to find anything in.”

“So we will find somewhere to stay for the night, and continue our search tomorrow, correct?”

“Yes.” With that, they slowly walked to find somewhere to stay, and it took awhile because of how full each place was. Eventually, they finally found somewhere to stay. It was a small room, with two small beds. The walls were cobbled, and there was a wooden planked floor that creaked with each step. It was quite cramped, but enough for the two. “I’m glad we didn’t waste all our money on food earlier, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to afford this.”

“I mean, we still have plenty, and that is because we did a lot of fighting against the monsters outside the city earlier.” Tenya replies.

“True. Well, good night, Iida.” Momo says, giving her friend a soft smile as she steps over to the bed near the small window. She shuts the curtains, and lies down, as does Tenya. Shortly after, the two are asleep. Meanwhile, outside the city gates, the little greenette is occupying his time, refusing to rest. A couple hours ago, he finally crawled out of that alleyway, reasoning with himself that he wouldn’t get anywhere if he continued to cry about it. With another swing of his sword, the boar let out a screech as it became sparkles, and faded away. Izuku locked eyes with another one, and charged at it. He got two swings in before it caught on, and tried to attack him as well. The boy backed up, and sidestepped to get out of the way of the attack. 

He was getting out of breath, but he already started the fight, so he had to finish it. He refused to die here, and he had already gotten so far. He had already leveled up a few times, and figured out how so many of the monsters fought. He planned to work on fighting more wolves later on, and then moving on to some of those walking plants. 

The boar charged at him again, so he quickly stepped out of the way. When he swung his sword, he accidentally hit another boar, and his eyes widened when he realized he did so. Just him against two angry boars.  _ Dammit _ . He already wasn’t fond of this sword because he didn’t like the way it felt that much. It just felt too light, and like it could fly out of his hands any second. He would need to build up money and resources to get a better one later. But until then, he had to face against these monsters with this crappy sword.

Another swing, barely grazing one of them while getting a deeper cut on the other. They squeaked in pain and anger, both charging at Izuku this time. He was too close, and before he could step out of the way, one of them got a good hit on his leg as he tried to leap away. With a yelp of pain, he hit the ground, and watched some of his health go down. He cringed at the sight of it, and rolled out of the way of another attack. Getting up again, he attacked once more, and smiled in satisfaction as the one he had been fighting the longest disappeared in a brief moment of light and sparkles.

Someone then came out of nowhere, getting the other boar away from Izuku as the mystery person gave one big, final blow. Izuku’s eyes widened at the familiarity of the man, and he quickly stuttered out “R-Rock Lock?”

“Yep.” The man says, glancing at Izuku. “Hey, you’re one of those kids that took down the boss on the first floor in the beta tests. I still recognize your name, kid. Ya look pretty different from your avatar, but I’ll recognize that name anywhere.”

Izuku nervously pulled at his fingers, big eyes never leaving the grass as he tried to avoid eye contact with the pro.

“Not to try to be invasive, but where’s your friend? Yaoyorozu?” Rock Lock asks.

“I don’t know.” Izuku mumbles.

“Is she in the game?” Izuku nods. “Couldn’t sleep? Tell ya what, we defeat a few more monsters, and then I buy you something as my treat.”

“I don’t want you to waste any time or money on me, so no thank you.” The aura around Rock Lock suddenly became frustrated, and Izuku tensed up. Glancing away from the glass and to his hands, he saw them shaking, and he quickly put those shaking hands behind him, going back to focusing on a certain blade of grass. There was nothing special about it. It’s just a blade of grass.

“You’re acting like nobody has ever offered you something small. I literally just want to get you a snack, kid. And besides, it’s only after we defeat a few of these guys.” The pro points to the boars behind him, and then says “Besides, I’m a pro. What kind of pro would I be if I didn’t help someone who needed it? You need a break, kid. You’re just a kid.”

“And I can do just as well as everyone else here. After all, it’s still just a game, just actually killing people.” Izuku mumbles.

“And that’s my exact point. This game is actually killing people. Nobody here but the pros signed a document willing to put their lives on the line. I understand you’ve always been wanting to beat this game, but you have to remember you can’t freely die here. You, as a child, never said you were ready to sacrifice your life for everyone here. Us pros promised to protect people, and if we can’t do that in the real world, then let us do it here.” Rock Lock says. Izuku’s eyes had been long adjusted to the dark, but suddenly, it was hard for him to see. There was a moment where he could clearly see as his teardrops fell, but that vision was suddenly taken away again as his eyes flooded with more tears. “Hey, don’t cry. We can go and get that snack now if you want?”

“N-no. M’fine.” Izuku replies as he wipes his tears onto his sleeve. He then gets a firmer grip on his sword, and then says “So about those monsters? Are you ready to fight them?”

“Hell yeah.” The pro replies, grinning as he grabs his own sword. They said it would only be a few monsters, but it ended up relieving so much stress, that they pushed away their tiredness, and pushed past their limits as they fought. Izuku easily fought next to the man, both having no training with a sword beforehand, even though it wasn’t really needed to be able to play the game. There were game specific movements that most likely wouldn’t work in the real world, but worked flawlessly for the game. “A,right, kid. That’s enough for now. Let’s go buy something, and then we can go ahead and part ways.”

“A-alright.” Izuku replies, putting his sword away, as does Rock Lock. The two walk through the quiet streets, and step into the bakery nearest them. Rock Lock insisted that he was going to pay, and even though Izuku protested against it, the man wouldn’t hear it. Izuku eventually ended up with a nice cupcake, which is honestly one of the biggest delicacies on this floor. The things everyone could afford is the crab bread if you had such a little amount of money. 

Once the two had stepped into the city, their health was quickly brought up again. So the health they had lost against the boars was quickly turned back, and there was nothing to worry about again. 

The two ate in silence, eventually being broken by the pro hero, who said “You know, I have more reasons to want to get out of this place other than to just get out and continue my work. I have a little kid that I want to see. I’m afraid of missing out on him growing up, and I don’t want my wife to have to raise our baby on her own while she waits for me to beat this damn game. I’ve heard about how hard it is for someone to single handedly raise a child, especially when they’re so young.”

Izuku has a somewhat understanding of that too. He’s seen for years how much pressure his mom is under. This game was sure to do nothing to help with that pressure. Izuku was always so stressful for the sweet woman, and Izuku knew it. After all, he always came home with some sort of injury, his father was never in the picture other than to send some money. That money wasn’t enough, and Inko had to get a job of her own. Hisashi still had to take care of himself after all, so there naturally had to be money set aside for him. It would be so much less difficult if he could come home.

But now… now things were extremely difficult. Thousands of people were tossed into a game, and Izuku was amongst them. Inko would be so stressed, even more than she ever was, and she would have to hope that Izuku could make it out of this game. Izuku had to get out of here for her.

“So what about you, kid? What do you want to get out of this game for?” Rock Lock asks, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts.

“O-oh, um… I want to get out for my mom. Y’see, she already worries so much for me, and I already stress her out enough. If I can get out of here, I want to make it all up to her for even making her stress out.”

“So you’re a mama’s boy?”

“I-I guess.”

“Kid, you gotta stop that stuttering.”

“Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize about it. I just don’t want you to be nervous around me. I get I’m a pro hero and all, but I’m not out to get you. I just want to help.” A moment of silence. Rock Lock sighed, and then said “I know a guy. He’s a pro and teacher, and someone he knows dragged him along. I think you two would get along really well, and he can help you a bit. He’s a really good guy, I promise. Meet me here tomorrow, and I can take you to meet him.”

“...Okay.”

“Alright, see ya’. Go ahead and get some rest.” Rock Lock says as he gets up, ruffling Izuku’s curls. The brief moment of affection made Izuku go red a bit, not accustomed to anyone but his mom or Momo truly showing how much they cared. So when Rock Lock walked out of the bakery, Izuku sat there for a second, processing what just happened.

He gets to meet someone… and for some reason, he agreed to meet this person. Wait- how many pros are in this game anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I finally mentally prepared myself to get into the angst for this story. I’m just trying to make sure everyone else is going to be prepared... cause I kinda specialize in angst. We can’t forget that people die in SAO, so we do have to be prepared to lose some characters.


	8. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inko worries for her son while Katsuki trains early and Izuku still tries to hide from the explosive blonde.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wouldn’t believe how much I was restraining myself from just not updating on the spot. I suddenly got addicted writing this...

Inko Midoriya sat in the hospital, immediately knowing that her son would not make it out of the game that quickly. She saw how long it took for the game to be completed, and while yes, there were more players, she just knew they were scared with the life or death scenario thrown at them. So Inko went to Mitsuki, not shocked to find out Katsuki was in the game too. She recommended they get their boy to the hospital too so he doesn’t die from a lack of water or food.

So here she was, next to her only child, who was hooked up to machines with the treacherous thing on his head that prevented him from waking up and living his life. She saw his notebooks, and how much work he still wanted to do in them. She watched as he would run to his room, and write away in his cherished items. As she walked by his room at night to check on him, the news would always be on his computer, and if you listened close enough, you could hear the scratching of pencil against paper. Eventually, the mother just let him be, and lost track of what time he finally went to bed.

Izuku was still out cold, and it hurt her to not get to see his beautiful eyes in the morning when she woke up, and his frustration when she would have to remind him to grab some breakfast as he rushed to put his shoes on. He should be in school this morning, eagerly waiting for class to finish so he could run home and put on the nerve gear to play with his friends. But instead, it was just a morning on a hospital bed, with plenty of other people stuck in the game as well surrounding him.

The lack of heroes in the outside world was taking its toll on the cities. While the game was primarily teenagers and citizens, a lot of heroes were in the game as well, especially from the beta testing. However, villains were still being held back by the symbol of peace, who never had time for anything but heroics. Besides, the man doesn’t seem like the type to engage his time with video games.

U.A. had unfortunately become short staffed, so even more pros had to spend some of the time they could be using to patrol teaching students instead. People who were nowhere near ready to teach were suddenly thrown into the teaching career, but it was said that Nezu was doing his best to help make sure these teachers would still do a good job. And there were still other teachers to help teach those teachers.

There was a sudden loud beeping from the next room, and Inko rushed up, poking her head out of the room to see what was going on. Within a few minutes, a married couple walked out of that room, sobbing as they were escorted out.

“Another player died in the game.” A doctor says as he walks out with a clipboard in hand. Inko spares a glance to her baby, giving a sigh of relief to see him still breathing. She shut the room door before walking over to the chair she was sitting in earlier, seating herself once more. She gently grabbed his hand, massaging it with her thumb as she teared up.

“You’ll be okay, Izuku. It’ll be okay. Please, please just be okay.” Inko says. She chants those words a bit as if to reassure herself that her son will safely wake up, and smile his beautiful smile, and will end up wrapping his arms around her to tell her that he’s okay. While she was never certain about Izuku’s and Katsuki’s friendship anymore, as she never saw the boy come over anymore, she was at least grateful there was a familiar face in the game with her son.

* * *

The morning greeted Katsuki, and he angrily tossed his pillows at one of the extras sleeping on the floor. They jolted up, and said “Oh, you’re awake Bakugo! Can’t we sleep just a bit longer? I mean, it’s not like we’re already getting out of here, right? It’s only the second day, and I’m sure nobody will be doing anything.”

“Sure, they won’t be doing anything if they play the coward’s way out. So get your dumbass up, and get ready to go out and fight some shits.” Katsuki demands. The three people he had from the real world by his side quickly got up, and ran out of the room they had got in the small place they had collectively bought. Katsuki sighed as he watched them frantically run out, and he opened the curtains, letting light pour into the room. He scanned the streets, taking note of how they were still pretty empty.

He stepped out of the room, walking ahead of the extras, shoving them aside in the process. They all started to follow him, and got nervous as they watched where he was headed. 

“We’re already heading to the plains!” The one who is supposed to have a quirk that makes his fingers grow asks.

“Hell yeah! I told you we’re not going to be babies!” Katsuki replies, grinning from ear to ear as they get closer to the gate. They try to run off, but Katsuki grabs two of them, and they yelp as they are dragged off. The third one gets away, and Katsuki mutters “Tsk, they were weak anyways.” 

“P-please, we could actually die out there! We’re not r-ready to g-go out there yet!” One of them protested. Katsuki sighs before suddenly releasing them. They fall to the ground, and the blonde turns onto his heel, leaving them in the dust as he passes through the city gate, and into the grassy plains that were covered in points he could win to level up and get stronger. He happily charged at one of the boars, swinging his sword at it with a powerful force. It squeaked at the sudden attack before preparing itself for an attack of its own. Katsuki just attacked again, and stepped out of the way before it could hit him. It quickly ended in the blonde’s victory, and he turned to fight another one. After a few, he found himself bored, and walked deeper, finding himself in Quest Plains, which was covered in wolves and an annoying little Kobold Henchman. He switched his sword out for a spear, and charged at a wolf.

It’s always easy to level up in the beginning, so the blonde had already leveled up a few times as he fought in the fields. Eventually, when he was proud of his work, he laid down in the grass, watching as some of the little beasts walked around as if he wasn’t there. He closed his eyes, soaking in the fake sunlight. That was when the light attempting to pass through his eyelids was shadowed, and he quickly opened his eyes, meeting another pair of red ones.

“Hey, isn’t it dangerous to just sit around in here?” The boy asks. Katsuki just rolls his eyes, and says “Not if you’re me. I’m doing better than any of those damn beta testers, whoever they are, and the people I came with are pitiful as fuck.”

“Ohhhh, I see. Wanna team up?” The boy asks, giving the blonde a bright smile. Katsuki noticed how the boy had a full set of sharp teeth, so he asked “So the game doesn’t take away appearances that your quirk gives you, but just takes away your quirk?”

“Uh, I guess so. Someone I know from school still has the appearance from her quirk, so, I suppose it’s like that for everyone as long as their appearance isn’t directly connected to their quirk. So about my offer?”

“Hell no. Nobody has been able to meet up with my level, so I’d rather people  _ not _ try to think they can keep up.” Katsuki says.

“You haven’t even seen me fight yet! I’m Ejiro Kirishima, and I would like to fight alongside you to get through this game! Please accept my offer!” Ejiro goes into a bow as he makes his request, and Katsuki rolls his eyes. He pushes the read head back upright, and he says “I’ll think about it. We fight against some of these guys, and then I’ll decide if I like how you fight enough. Those extras I was with didn’t even want to fight in the first place. Too much of fucking cowards. So you’re already an upgrade.”

“Glad to be an improvement then!” Ejiro beams, giving the angry Pomeranian a thumbs up.

“Yeah yeah, c’mon.” Katsuki grabs Ejiro’s arm, and leads the boy to where a lot of the wolves were gathered. The two actually did pretty well, and ended up working pretty well together. Katsuki would refuse to admit it, but fighting with this boy was rather fun for him, especially when he didn’t go into a stuttering mess every time he shouted. Ejiro would just nod, and listen to whatever Katsuki had shouted. Definitely an improvement. 

Meanwhile, deep into the city, the little greenette woke up, hiding under the covers as he regretted forgetting to shut the curtains last night. There was a soft knock at the door, and the familiar voice of Rock Lock saying “Hey, kid, c’mon. Wake up. If you’re not downstairs in ten minutes, I’m going to head out without you to go meet up with the person.”

“I’m comin’.” Izuku replied, shifting around on the bed, and sliding off with a thud. His stomach growled, and he groaned as he got up, lazily walking to the door. He rubbed his tired eyes, and slipped on his boots. He couldn’t even try to fool himself that yesterday was a dream because here he was, in a completely unfamiliar room, the voice of a pro hero waking him up in the morning to tell him he was meeting another pro. The thought of his mother made tears prick at his eyes, but he refused to waste any time mourning about not being in the real world. He hardly wiped the tears away before opening the door, and walking towards the small entrance the Rock Lock waited in.

This man was known for being a bit cold, and yet here he was, helping some kid he met in the beta tests meet one of his accomplices. Izuku honestly wonders what the hell is going on. He’s not used to people just willingly talking to Izuku. Even the teachers at school seemed hesitant to speak to him, cringing as they called him out to answer a question.

“Alright, kid. You ready to go?” Rock Lock asks, standing up straight as he was formerly leaning against the wall. Izuku nodded, and began to follow the man out of the building. They passed multiple markets, and as the greenette spotted one, he said “Rock Lock, I need to buy something real quick. It’ll only take a minute.”

“So you already know what you need?” The man asks, turning to face the teen. Izuku nods once more before darting towards the small stand set up that sells some more beginner clothes. He found a nice, black cloak, and quickly purchased it. He opened his menu, and put it on. It wasn’t really long, and only went about to his elbows, but the hood did it’s service well, hiding his hair, and shadowing his bright eyes. He ran back up to the pro hero, who said “What’d you need that for?”

“There’s just someone I’d rather not see me for particular reasons.”

“Are you hiding from your friends?”

“Wha- no no no! I actually don’t know where they are right now, and I know Yaoyorozu already looks pretty different from her avatar, and I don’t know how Iida looks at all… there’s just someone else I know that knows how I really look, and it’ll be trouble for me if he sees me.”

“Whatever you say. You sure they aren’t just too scared right now to do anything?”

“Kacchan’s not like that. He’s not scared of anything.” The rest of the walk was kept silent other than their footsteps and the voices of other players, talking about how they were going to get out, how frustrated they were about this, how they were too nervous to do anything, or just recalling sweet memories with their friends. Izuku liked to listen to bits and pieces of those stories, and tried to recall some of his own happy memories. They mainly consisted of the different times his mom came home with All Might merch, and watching All Might’s debut on repeat for at least an hour. Eventually, they came across the teleportation gate plaza, which was pretty empty other than a few people here and there. 

“Hey, Eraser!” Rock Lock says towards a group of three people. Two of them quickly turn to face Rock Lock, while the other groggily turns to face the pro hero and teen. “Oh, and hello, Midnight and Mic. I see you two tagged along.”

The blonde eagerly waves them over, telling the duo to hurry up and join their little trio. Rock Lock picked up his pace again, and Izuku nervously looked at the pro heroes before catching up to Rock Lock, and joining the group of pro heroes. The greenette swallowed down the series of questions he had for each and every pro, and mustered up a small “Hi”. God, it was hard to not start spewing out every question he had in his head about their quirks. His hands longed for a pencil and his notebooks, wanting to write every new bit of information he got, and draw down better details of what they looked like.

“Hey there, Little Listener! Rock Lock here told us we were meeting up with you, but he didn’t specify why. You wanna tell me?” Present Mic asked. Even though he couldn’t even use his quirk in the game, his voice was just naturally so loud and enthusiastic. 

“Kid is just really nervous around people. I figured you guys could help. You are teachers after all, and I know how good each of you are with kids, even if you refuse to admit how much you cherish them.” Izuku barely noticed Rock Lock’s glance towards the dark haired male, but when the greenette turned to face the man, he watched as his dark eyes rolled, clearly agitated.

“I’m focused on trying to get my ass out of this game, and you give me a babysitting job for some kid?” The man asks.

“Pretty much.” Rock Lock replies.

“H-hey! I don’t ne-need to be babysat!” Izuku protests. Midnight giggles before patting his head, and saying “We can take care of him. You said he was a beta tester too, right?” 

“Yeah. We met during those beta tests. He’s reckless as hell, and since I don’t teach, I can’t teach him better than to not do that. And besides, I have this meeting later on with some other players trying to get through this game instead of sitting around. So you get info from the kid, and I go off and discuss some stuff with other players. Also, be careful about mentioning the beta tester thing. I’ve heard people sounding really frustrated with beta testers.” The other three pros nod before Rock Lock walks off, leaving Izuku with three people he’s only seen on the news and social media.

“God, I could really use a coffee.” Eraserhead says with a sigh as he rubs his tired eyes.

“Coffee is on floor thirty-five.” Izuku replies. Present Mic snorts as Eraserhead says “Dammit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I could’ve sworn I hadn’t written another 800 words when I was at 1,800, and all I needed to do was write another 200. But then I wrote another 600, so I hope everyone enjoyed the longer chapter.


	9. A Talk With The Pros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conversation didn’t go as Izuku had hoped, and All For One is making his demands.

“Iida, any sign of him yet?” Momo asks as she peeks into an alleyway. Tenya looks over people on the street, trying to look for someone with a similar appearance, posture, or voice of their friend. Both tall individuals were trying their best to spot Izuku in the town, but seemed to have no luck.

“No. Maybe we should go check the plains now.” Tenya suggests. Momo nods, and the duo starts walking off. The streets were much quieter, and a lot of people looked nervous as they walked the streets. Momo and Tenya began walking towards the gate, and they passed by Rock Lock, who didn’t seem to notice them as he ran off. When they got into the teleportation gate plaza, they passed by a group of four, where it seemed like a couple of them were happily chatting away. One of them just looked straight up tired, even though a lot of his hair was in his face, obscuring the view of his tired expression from everyone for the most part. One of the other people seemed to nervously fiddle around with their cloak while the other two talked.

Momo and Tenya were too far to hear what the players were saying, but they didn’t really care, not wanting to eavesdrop on other people as they walked along. They were dead set on finding their friend. 

As the duo continued to walk, they finally stepped into the plains. 

“The plains are so big. Do you really think we’ll find him here easily?” Tenya asks.

“It definitely won’t be easy, but we’ve got this.” Momo assures, giving the tall boy a confident smile. He just nods, giving a soft smile in return while they look around. After a long time of searching, Tenya says “Yaoyorozu, do you think he’s hiding from us? Don’t you think that if he wanted to find us, he would?”

“I… he may be… but that’s probably because he’s worried about us judging him. You saw how he reacted around that blonde boy yesterday. He probably thinks we’ll judge them for his actual appearance, and that’s why he’s hiding. And he could also be trying to hide from that boy, and if he tried to find us, maybe he could get caught. We don’t know how much that guy knows.” The girl replies, trying to keep confidence that her friend wants to find her as well. While Tenya didn’t seem all that positive about it, he just mumbled a soft agreement. Meanwhile, there was another conversation going on as a group of four discussed their plans to get out of the game.

“I still absolutely hate that the liquid made by the gods is up on floor thirty-five.” Shota mumbles.

“Aw, c’mon, Sho. I’m sure with the little listener, we can try to get places faster and get these floors beaten.” Hizashi replies with a soft smile. The man had his long blonde hair tied into a half ponytail instead of the usual style Izuku was used to seeing the pro hero in. But of course, the man can’t style his hair like that because there isn’t any hair spray or gel in this dungeon everyone was trapped in.

“I have an idea where we might need to go to find the bosses, but it would require activating some stuff and talking to some NPCs. I would also highly recommend leveling up yourself and your gear. The monsters tell you whether or not they’re above your level by how red their names are. If the name is white, then they’re at or beneath your level. So I would recommend sticking with those monsters to level up and get Col, the currency here, to pay the blacksmith NPC to upgrade your equipment.” Izuku explains.

“This is the first I’ve heard about this… are the other beta testers not sharing this information?” Nemuri asks.

“I think I saw some people who seemed to have a familiar grip with the game handing out these little handbooks to the monsters and crap around here.” Shota replied before turning to Izuku and saying “So show us where to go, kid.”

Izuku nods before saying “There’s another town around in the plains, and it’s kinda hidden around a waterfall. Some other beta testers may be there. If current players are too scared to even step into the plains, that would completely explain the crowding issue we have around here. The first floor has two kites with their own apartments, but it was late last night, so I stayed here too. But I definitely think I’ll be staying in Central Tolbana this time.”

“Little listener.” Hizashi starts, snapping Izuku’s attention to the blonde with a small hum of acknowledgement. “You were starting to mumble a lot. Mind just telling us where we need to go?”

“R-right! We have to go into Origin Plains, then head into the Rivalry Plains, get off the bridge, take an immediate left, and there’s going to be a dirt pathway that’ll lead us to the entryway of Central Tolbana, getting us out of the crowded City of Beginnings.”

“Do you just have this whole map memorized?” Nemuri asks with a small chuckle.

“M-maybe-“ Izuku sheepishly replies with a nervous laugh. “We should alert others though, about the city, since Rock Lock said something about a meeting. There’s an arena there with a lot of seating and a stage.”

“Well I know who’s leading this whole get together, and they’re trying to only get pro heroes. We can alert him, so every time somebody goes back to him, he can just tell them about the location.” Shota suggests.

“And the guy is a natural at navigation, so he should easily be able to remember where to go.” Hizashi adds. Izuku suddenly felt so left in the dark, not knowing who the trio were talking about. They obviously had to be a hero, since they were organizing heroes into this whole raid. Izuku just wanted to know  _ which hero _ ?

“Kid.” Izuku looks at Shota, waiting for the man to continue. “Go ahead and run off. We know you can take care of yourself, and we don’t need a kid to hear about the meeting plans. This is for us pros to deal with, not kids who need protecting. Besides, Rock Lock told us about that reckless behavior. It can hold us back on the battlefield, and we’d rather not lose a kid to a video game.”

“H-Huh!? No fair!” Izuku protests, ready to argue against the man’s words, only for the man to give a glare that tells Izuku to not speak any further as the dark haired man continues to speak.

“You are still a qualified citizen. Yes, you are a beta tester, but that doesn’t mean you’re great. You’ve got friends from the beta tests, right? Go find them, and don’t try to sneak into the meeting. Mind your business and fight some of the minor monsters hanging around.” And with that, Izuku watched as both the other heroes gave a sympathetic look as the trio walked off, leaving Izuku in the middle of the teleportation plaza by himself. He nervously fiddled with the bottom of his cloak as he mumbled to himself, frustrated with the man.

“They didn’t even give me a chance to tell them it would be so much easier if they activated the teleport monuments, starting in Central Tolbana. They just walked off, and wouldn’t even let me tell them which NPC they wanted to talk to. I’m sure there are other pro hero beta testers though instead of just Rock Lock, but it still hurts that they only talked for a bit, got some extra information, and then just left.” Izuku nervously looks around, eyes widening when he sees someone he knows, and someone unfamiliar walking into the teleportation plaza from the Origin Plains. Izuku nervously hides behind the large stone in the center of the teleportation plaza, and watches the blonde male walk off, a red haired male walking alongside. He only caught a little bit of their conversation, but it was only really Katsuki telling the other boy that he was just compatible in a fight unlike everyone else, but they weren’t friends.

Wide green eyes nervously watched as the duo walked into the marketplace where the important stuff for weapons and clothing was. Once they disappeared into the street, Izuku ran back into the Origin Plains, quickly trying to put an end to a whole bunch of monsters as he made his way to Rivalry Plains, not noticing Tenya and Momo venturing into the other place on the left, Quest Plains, searching for him. And therefore, as Izuku took a right to Rivalry Plains, he still walked alone, and ventured into the very welcoming city of Central Tolbana.

  
  


* * *

  
  


All For One nervously paced around, watching as his personal doctor fiddled around with equipment in the small room.

“You’re lucky I was here and that he isn’t a registered villain yet, sir. It was difficult getting him in though with the fake name you’ve given him, and the fact his real name is a registered missing child’s name, who I may remind, has been missing for years.” Ujiko said as he made sure the unconscious blue haired male was being attached to all needed equipment to keep him alive.

“Why couldn’t we just have him set up at base? It’s already dangerous enough to let me warp into here.” All For One says with a frustrated tone.

“I’ve realized, but we’ve had enough power outages this past year. If we have one while he’s trapped in the game, then he’s  _ dead _ . The Nomus can function without power for a bit, but it’s too dangerous to play these risks with your successor to the dark throne. I assure you he’ll be having the time of his life wreaking havoc in the game for you, while you gain more health back so you can finally steal One For All.” Ujiko replies. All For One sits in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs with a sigh, sparing a glance at his successor, who just  _ had _ to have the newest game. Tomura had practically begged for the game, and how could the man say no? It was supposed to be just another harmless video game, but look where this supposed harmless had him. Their plans of world destruction and domination would have to wait, and it felt like there was nothing he could do. That was when something clicked in his mind.

“Ujiko.” He suddenly says, making the small old man jump.

“Y-yes?” The small man asks.

“Where is the SAO base located? I need to have a  _ talk _ with some of the creators, and see if I can still work on wreaking havoc alongside Tomura.”

“Kurogiri should know.” The mention of said man made the wispy head look up, clear tiredness in the yellow eyes of the man. 

“Yes?” The bartender asks.

“Warp me to the Sword Art Online base.” All For One quickly says, sitting up from the chair.

“Yes sir?” Kurogiri was obviously confused, having been totally zoned out during his boss’ and the doctor’s conversation. But he complied, and the portal quickly opened up to let the large man into a dark room in a three story building, and the only man in the room other than the intruders looked up, his dark curls bouncing as he flinched at the sight of the men.

“W-who are you?! We can’t free the SAO players, I swear! Not without killing them!” The man quickly says, sweat already starting to drip down the side of his face as he sits on the ground, starting to back under the table as the villain walks closer, an intimidating aura spreading around him. All For One grabs the man by the tag pinned to his shirt, pulling him closer. After reading the tag, All For One grins, and says “Hisashi Midoriya, I don’t want you to get anyone out of that damn game. I want you to get me in.”

Hisashi nervously glances at the last email written from Izuku Midoriya a few days ago, and he says “Then I’m getting in too.”

“Deal, little man.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the update took so long! I got stuck with end of semester projects and finals the last couple weeks! But I finally got the motivation after playing some “Sword Art Online Integral Factor“ (which I highly recommend). The finals just had really sucked out my motivation for literally everything and I’ve had another wave of stressful stuff to deal with. Also, a lot of the floors will be based off of the game I previously mentioned. I’m not far in it, so as I go along, and if I’m not on the floor in the game yet, then I’ll just look up the floor if needed. I am basing this off of the anime as well though. But maps, monsters, and a lot of equipment is based off of the game since it helps me add in features to the story.  
>  This story is not perfect! I watched SAO about a year ago, and so the memories of it are NOT fresh on my mind. So today I was reminded about the fact that the beta tests weren’t done until the game was completed. A lot of beta testers didn’t actually get past floor two by the time the game was released, but I will keep my story the same as it is, and keep the changed features past floor 25 so the beta testers still don’t have any clue what’s past that point.  
>  In case if any of you wondering why Shota said what he said, my reasoning is simple: He cares so much for kids that he’d literally rather ruin their hopes instead of encouraging them to kill themselves. He expelled kids completely because he didn’t want them to quickly die on the battlefield. So who’s to say he wouldn’t do the same for the teenagers in the game? So before any of you get frustrated with Shota for what he said to Izuku, please just take that into consideration.


	10. Hisashi Wants To Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hisashi prepares everything to get into the game, and has a talk with All For One. Boy does he wish he could just answer questions the first time instead of being threatened and then answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am VERY sorry this took so long! I’ve been having those moments where I’m honestly not up for literally anything, and ended up having to completely rewrite this chapter because I tried to write it in those moments, and it was pure trash. However, I finally got motivation, and am posting this at 11:30 PM, when I’m supposed to be trying to sleep for school tomorrow! :D  
> Heh... heheh.... onto the chapter.

Hisashi Midoriya’s feet could be heard nervously shuffling around the dark room, retrieving all necessary equipment. It had already been his plan to try and get into the game, but now, he was actually doing it. This game kills people, yet here he is, putting himself there.

However, there’s another person he has to take account of though. This is a man who is clearly dangerous, but instead of staying safe in the real world, he is willing to become vulnerable to throw himself into the game where he will have just about no power at all. The emails from Izuku suggesting that they try to block out quirks was phenomenal. Yet now, nobody was sure if it was that great of an idea.

Any modifications to the game was risky, which is something the entire team that helped make the game knew. So if quirks would have been able to get people out without risking their lives to run towards the hundredth floor, nobody would ever know. And nobody would ever know if the quirks would kill them after possibly triggering a glitch in the game, and leaving only those who hadn’t attempted to use their quirks or killing them all. Therefore, the quirk cancellation could be viewed as a pro in some situations, a con in others.

In the game, everyone was on equal grounds power wise. Your own personal physics strength meant nothing in the game, and was reliant on the stats you built up. Having helped build the game, Hisashi knew some tricks to upgrading these stats and leveling up faster. 

The man stepped over to a shelf in this storage room, glancing at the man creator of the game, who was hooked up to all the necessary equipment to keep him alive. Hisashi couldn’t help but wonder why the creator would put himself into the game. Could it be because he wanted to experience the world he had built, he wanted to experience the fear of knowing he could die any time, or maybe because he wanted a thrill from that possibility. The creator’s reasoning may be one Hisashi never figures out, but it was relatively unimportant at the moment.

Hisashi reached onto the shelf for two of the nerve gear helmets, nervously biting his lip as he walked over to all the other equipment he had gathered.

“So uh… why is it you really want to get into the game?” Hisashi asked, sparing a glance to the guy with the mask on his face, and then one to the guy with a wispy face and hands.

“Irrelevant. However, I have a much better question.” All For One states, leaning forward in his chair, his fingers crossing each other as his arms rest on his lap. Hisashi feels as though the man is grinning under the mask, possibly thinking about the fact that he knows that he can easily brush off any question Hisashi tries to ask.

“W-what is your question?” Hisashi asks as he starts getting all the equipment set up. All For One stands up, striding over to Hisashi.

“What were those emails about when I first arrived?” The tall man asked, and Hisashi nervously looked away. “Was it important information about the game? I would like to know before I risk my life and power jumping headfirst into the game.”

“Oh… um… it wasn’t anything important.” Hisashi replied, trying to evade the question, afraid of embarrassing himself. However, evading the question seemed to annoy All For One more than anything else was, so the large villain quickly wrapped his fingers around the smaller man’s neck, pulling him off the ground. Hisashi’s eyes widened in fear, his hands flying towards his neck in an attempt to pry off the villain’s fingers.

“Tell. Me. I need to know whether or not I can trust you to get me into this damn game without the interference of your poor security.” All For One’s fingers tightened around the man’s throat, and Hisashi tried to speak through the limited air he had. “J-just put… put me… d-down.”

All For One’s fingers loosened their grip, and let the man fall to the ground. Hisashi desperately sucked in more air, coughing as he collapsed to the ground. As the coughing fit died down, Hisashi rightened his glasses on his face, and through his raspy voice, he said “I was just looking at old emails from my son.”

“Why would you do that? Shouldn’t you be able to go and see him anytime?” All For One asked, agitation still strong in his voice.

“No… I had to leave for work reasons years ago. He barely even knows me, and doesn’t even know where I work.”

“Then how did he send you emails?”

“He started emailing suggestions here for possible improvements in the game. We eventually end him some nerve gear to beta test the game, and-“

“And now he’s in the game, so you’re hoping you can try and make up leaving him for years without any form of contact by going in and helping him? Yet you hardly know him yourself too. Am I right?”

“Yes…” Hisashi was definitely disappointed in himself. He had wanted to contact his family, but he was always so busy, and the time difference wasn’t any help. He would leave a message every now and again for Inko, waiting for her to see it at some point, and there would see her reply.

“He may not even want anything to do with you, Midoriya. He may think you just left him because he wasn’t good enough. He may think his quirk just wasn’t good enough for you, or that he was a disappointment of a child. He may be thinking ‘my dad just didn’t want me, so he gave up on me and mom. Who needs a dad anyways’? Do you even remember what he looks like? Did you ever receive any birthday photos, or photos of his accomplishments?” The villain continued to question, each remark making the programmer cringe and want to curl up and hide.

“Inko and I… haven’t been able to talk much. My family lives in Japan, and our time differences and work schedules hardly work out. We never see each other’s messages until hours later, which leaves almost no room to talk about much. I’ve tried to ask about Izuku, but all she says is that he’s doing fine.” Hisashi replies, finishing it off with a long sigh.

“Then stop taking so long to get into the game. You have a chance to redeem yourself to your child without too much travel, and you’ll be on the same time schedule. Sure, you’ll have a life or death risk over your head, but it’s worth it for your child, correct?” All For One asks as he picks up a nerve gear helmet in one hand, the other hand gliding across its surface as if he’s inspecting it. “I will have to take off my mask for this, won’t I?”

“Yes.” Hisashi replies as he gets back to plugging everything up and getting them in the right places. Through the current silence, Hisashi finished getting everything done, turning to the two villains with a grin, completely ready to jump in the game. “We’ll already know someone will come in and see us since the boss is put in here, and people will need to check on him. So we should be fine once we get into the game. Are you ready?”

“Yes yes. But I will need you to connect some of my own personal equipment. I had gotten into a big fight five years ago, and now, while I wait for my personal doctor to finish healing me up, I have to live off of this life support equipment. And I would rather my safety be guaranteed.” All For One explains.

“Well that explains the mask. But yeah, it’ll be easy. Just a second for me to do all that.” And then that task was completed. Hisashi was excited to get to jump into the game, and be able to try and see his son again. While there was always the possibility of getting kicked in the balls for being gone for so long, he would just be happy to know his son was alive, and to see how much the boy had grown. After all, the last time he saw his son was when he was a little four year old, scampering around with an All a Might figurine in hand as he played hero with someone who lived just down the street.

Hisashi gave a quick run down of some of the basic instructions, and how he wasn’t absolutely positive if it would work to get them in the game now, especially since nobody had ever tried to get into the game ever since it was confirmed that people were locked in. But there was the possibility it could work like any other game and let them in, and that was the possibility they were hoping for.

He first helped connect the large villain to all the equipment, making sure he was lying down, nerve gear already ready.

“Kurogiri, make sure this man doesn’t try anything funny. He could have easily made up that story about his son.” All For One tells the wispy man in the corner before slipping into the game. Hisashi waited a few moments before saying “Hello? Are you in the game?”

No reply.

A success. 

He can get into the game.

“Do you need any assistance to get yourself hooked up to everything?” Kurogiri asks, walking over to the programmer.

“Oh, uh, yes please.” It felt weird to Hisashi to hear this man speak. He didn’t do it much at all, and instead stood by as All For One and Hisashi talked. The programmer hopped onto the bed, slipping the nerve gear helmet onto his head before touching everything he needed for the game to register his appearance and function properly. 

Kurogiri did what he needed to carefully, quickly, and efficiently. He silently walked around, listening to any instruction Hisashi gave to ensure his safety. Soon enough, Hisashi found himself slipping into the game, the real world becoming nothing of any importance or something he could register anymore as the start screen popped up.

This is my chance. The only one I’ll probably ever get for a long time to be able to see my child again. Hisashi thought to himself before saying the two words every player ever needed to say to throw themselves into the hellish game. “Link, start!”

There was a moment of a bright flash of light, and Hisashi squinted at it, upset by the brightness of it. It eventually faded to something still rather bright, but enough to let him properly see without completely binding him. Hisashi looked around, noticing someone who looked like they were All For One with their large stature, and the smile that looked like it could be planning anything. It was pretty weird to look at without the suit though, instead in the standard startup clothes for the game.

Hisashi then took in his own appearance, already missing the coat he ran around his office with, and the pen he almost always had tucked behind his ear. He too, was dressed in standard clothing, and had a sword on his back, the soft pressure from the strap to keep it there on his shoulder and the light press of it on his back signifying it was there.

“So this is the game, huh?” All For One asks. “It really is stunning.”

“I agree.” Hisashi replies.

“However, I’m afraid we must part ways. You and I have completely different goals. I would recommend you find your son quickly however. I wouldn’t want to accidentally kill the son of the man who brought me into this game so I could meet my successor once more.” All For One warned.

“K-kill!?” Hisashi suddenly exclaims, backing away a bit.

“You’re a silly man. You know I’m a villain, yet you’re surprised by my remark. Yes, kill. I want my successor to have plenty of experience and guidance before getting a chance to release hell upon the real world. Goodbye, Midoriya.” All For One says with a grin before beginning to walk off, before turning and saying one last thing. “And also, you should add it to your notes that once you join the game after everyone’s appearance has been changed to look like themselves, anyone can join with their own avatar and appearance.”

All For One was definitely much more menacing without those scars. His curly, white, and neatly trimmed hair swayed with the wind as the bright red eyes scanned the surroundings once more before he disappeared into the city, leaving Hisashi there to wonder if he really made the right choice, and if he would have just been better off dying than letting all these innocent lives become at risk from a force they weren’t prepared to deal with. 

At least people are safe in safe-zones… as far as Hisashi knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone, please remember to focus on your mental health every once in awhile. I understand it can be difficult a lot, but it can lead to worse things. I don’t focus on myself often, and just ended up not doing much of anything, including the things I love most, like writing fanfiction. I let myself get really stressed over school, and I hope this does’t happen to you all that often. Just know I’m supporting you all to get through this from here, under my blanket as I try to hide the light of my iPad from my dad so he doesn’t know I’m up.  
> I mean, had to get this chapter done before it’s literally been a month since a new chapter was out. And I also don’t know when all this motivation is going to fade, so have to make sure everything on my to-do list is done.  
> ALSO, VERY IMPORTANT: When I wake up again, feel free to ask for a link to my discord, where we can just chat, I can let you know how my writing is progressing, and where you can share all of your own stuff!   
> Anyways, bye bye!


	11. Never Give Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo and Tenya are getting tired of looking for Izuku, and finally go to the last place they can think of. And then there’s a little surprise POV at the end!

The sun beat down on the two teenagers, their eyes anxiously glancing around as they looked for their friend. The duo was almost completely silent, other than the sound of their boots shuffling through the grass. With an impatient huff, Momo pulled her sword out of its sheath, and then ran at one of the boars, quickly swinging the sword a few times, putting the sword through the movements she knew she needed to successfully get an attack through. Some random swing doesn’t work after all.

The boar gave one final oink of anger and annoyance before disappearing into a burst of sparkles, fading away. Honestly, all that annoyance and anger from the boar, that’s what was bubbling up inside Momo with each passing hour that she had dedicated to finding Izuku. She wanted to find him, and she wondered if he was even  _ trying _ to spend any time finding her and Tenya. 

Putting her sword away, she turned to Tenya, and said “We have one more place to check. If we don’t see him there, we can give up. If he really wants to find us, we’ll know.”

Momo is usually the type of girl to be patient with everyone, willing to completely understand, even if it hurt her for awhile. She never liked being snappy, and she hated giving up, especially on the people she cared about. However, being stuck in this game and walking around in the sun for hours as her throat went dry with every time she called Izuku’s name, her wide abundance of patience was running thin. 

“What other place is there?” Tenya asks, squinting as he took his glasses off to clean them real quick. He slid them back onto his face, turning around to look for any signs of Izuku.

“There’s one other town, and it’s kinda hidden in one of the plains. I found it when I was doing the beta tests, and so that should pretty much be beta tester central. If Izuku is hiding from that blonde kid, then he’s probably in that other city. If he’s not there, we might as well give up and see if he’ll find us later. We have more important things to do, like getting out of this game.”

“Are you sure we should do it on our own? We could literally die here.” Tenya says, worry and fear making itself visible on the blue haired boy’s face.

“Well some risks are worth it if it means getting out of here faster. Now follow me please.” She tried to keep her last sentence sweet and cheery as she walked, giving her head a small jerk towards the direction she was headed to. Tenya began to follow along, calling out Izuku’s name every now and again as they headed towards the town. 

The gateway to the city was rather beautiful, and the city itself was too. It was small, and most of the buildings had formed a large square, a few alleys here and there. There were plenty of potted plants, and a large square of grass in the middle of the city, a tree placed in the center. Small markets for things like the blacksmith, trader, and others were around that square of grass, their shop placed on the stone pathway. On the opposing side of the entryway was a fountain, and what Momo recognized as a teleportation monument. Walking up and turning right from their provided an entryway to an arena. 

Momo sighed before starting to look around the city, this time paying attention to the people, having to remind herself to really look for someone with a sense of familiarity, and that  _ isn’t _ an NPC walking around the plaza.

“Midoriya!” She calls, and notices someone a little small, but clearly a teenager jumps from the sudden call. They glanced towards Momo and Tenya’s direction, and Momo excitedly walked over. “Midoriya!”

The boy stood where he was, a cloak hood covering his head, shadowing most of his face. The cloak wasn’t long, and only stopped at about his elbows. But Momo knew that nervous posture anywhere, and if they stopped at the call of Izuku, then  _ this _ had to be him. As the two walked up, the boy looked around, and then said “Yaoyorozu? Iida?” 

“Of course! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Tenya replies, and then asks “And what’s up with the cloak?”

“O-oh… I’m… I’m just hiding from Kacchan.” He replies.

“Well he’s not here if that’s what you were wondering.” Momo tells him, and Izuku seems to relax a bit. So he takes off the hood for now, still not really looking up at the two. “Hey, there’s no need to be all nervous. But we were really worried about you! We were looking all over for you, and I don’t really think you were looking for us. For all we knew, you could have been dead.”

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles. He looked so short in comparison to the other two, and it had honestly surprised Momo, and even more when she saw his difference. Compared to his avatar, he had a much more cute, and childlike appearance. He no longer had the thinner face, and he had freckles scattered across his cheeks, four of them on each side making a diamond shape. His hair was a mess of curls, and his wide green eyes watched his fingers as he nervously messed with them, lightly tugging at his fingers.

“Well I guess I’m no longer the short one of the group.” Momo says with a grin, ruffling Izuku’s hair. His eyes widen at the contact, and his face goes red, making Momo giggle.

“Yaoyorozu! Don’t mess with him! It is very unprofessional of you!” Tenya says, trying to back Izuku up. 

“I-it’s fine.” Izuku nervously replies.

“Hey, Midoriya.” Momo starts, and Izuku looks at her with a hum. “Just because our appearance is different doesn’t mean anything needs to change. We’re still friends, and there’s no need to be so nervous! Just remember, we’re still the same people no matter what, and a simple change of appearance won’t change anything for our little group, alright?”

“Alright.” Izuku replies, relaxing a little bit.

“Now what were you up to?” Momo asks, and Izuku quickly starts his reply.

“Oh! I was working on activating the teleportation monuments before seeing if I can beat the heroes to the boss fight. A lot of pros that haven’t even been in the beta tests plan on meeting up soon to think of a plan to challenge the boss fight, but they’re probably going to need to level up first. So I’ve been doing a lot of that and getting some other tasks done. I’ve been getting the teleportation monuments activated so we can go between floors once we unlock more. I just find it dumb that they don’t want me to help at all, just because I’m a teenager without a hero license. They’re saying that they can and will do it because they’re pros, and their job is to protect me and everyone else here, not the other way around. But Yaoyorozu, it was you and I who beat the floor monster, so without me and you, it can be more difficult, and so many could  _ actually _ die in there. Sure, pros came in later to help finish it off, but we got most of it done, and understood its moves best. And Ingenium isn’t here this time to help.” Izuku says, finally finishing his muttering tangent.

“Yeah… but we’re a group of three now, so if we want to challenge it once more, then we need to train Iida first. If one of us are going to do something dangerous, we’ll all do it.” Momo says, and Izuku nods in agreement.

“I apologize that my training will require us to waste some time in beating the pros, and while I do think it’s best we listen to the pros and let them do what they do best, I can agree that most of them probably won’t have a clue about what they’re doing.” Tenya says.

“Exactly. So let’s go see if we can find somewhere more private just in case there's a pro around. We can’t let them overhear the fact that I’m going against what they directly told me. I mean, not like they could arrest me or anything, but I just… I  _ really _ don’t want to be scolded by a pro.” Izuku replies.

“That’s understandable. It would be rather… disheartening. Especially since I would like to be a hero myself, and I know Yaoyorozu wishes to do the same as well. I will do my best to learn as quickly as possible!” Tenya declares, and soon, the three of them start heading over to one of the larger alleyways in the city, and hid behind one of the plants placed right beside a door.

“Alright, so the boss on this floor isn’t too hard, but it does get a little more aggressive the closer we get to winning. We need to really watch out for its attacks at that moment. Yaoyorozu, would you like to explain its moves? My thoughts are just… uh… kinda jumbled. I kinda figured you would explain it better.” And so she does. Momo gives as detailed of an explanation as possible, Tenya nodding along, listening to every word she spoke. As she explained the moves, Izuku would recall the move, and would randomly do a slow, small replica of the move, which Tenya caught every once in a while. 

“And that’s about it! Do you want to go get some quests from the NPCs around here, and then see how much we can level up?” Momo asks, and Tenya gives a firm nod, standing up from where the trio were sitting. 

“Of course! Anything to help my friends improve and conquer this boss!” Tenya declares, helping the other two up with a smile. With a look of determination, they start to head on their way to the plains to train.

* * *

Tensei sat next to the hospital bed, nervously fiddling with the hem of his shirt as his parents and Yaoyorozu’s parents talked right outside the room. Both of the teenagers were stuck in their sleep, stuck in the game. Tensei knew it took all the beta testers a long while to beat the game, and with the risk of actually dying now in place, it would be harder, and would take even longer to get everything done. However, that’s just plain obvious.

The players being trapped in the game was already difficult news, leaving everyone frustrated, scared, and in pain to know that the life of their loved one could literally slip away any second just by the helmet thousands had willingly slipped onto their heads. Tensei cupped his hands, placing his head there as he got lost in his train of thought.

Not only had he willingly put his little brother into the game, the brother he was supposed to protect with everything he could, but he had also put his little brother in the game with a monster. The news had  _ very _ quickly spread that a villain had gotten into the game with the aid of one of the coworkers, the names of both not having been released yet. All Tensei knew was that having a villain in the game was trouble.

It was suggested by Japan that America hand them over, or just take off the Nerve Gear, but they refused, saying that “This game is enough of a challenge. If they die in the game, they die in the game. If not, they will quickly be arrested on American grounds”. Tensei knew both of those people were from Japan, which made it frustrating that they were within American grounds instead, but Y’know what, that’s fine. As said, if they die, they die.

There were multiple people in the hospital room, and not just Tenya and Momo. There was only so much room all these hospitals could spare. If somebody could get a room to themselves, either they were that rich, or that hospital just wasn’t used much. 

“Hey Tenya… Yaoyorozu… be safe in there. And if Midoriya’s there, remind him not to be too reckless, because you three always seem to need that reminder.” And with a sigh, Tensei gets up, and walks out of the room, planning his next visit tomorrow after work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My plan was to write this chapter ages ago, but I got stuck with other stories. I got halfway done with that chapter, went to school, and then school had network issues. So I couldn’t finish that chapter because I wasn’t working on it in Docs. This, on the other hand, is the only story I’m writing in Docs, so I deleted everything in my draft for it (cause it sucked), and then wrote it all today! I hope you enjoyed it-


	12. Well Sign Me Up For A Grave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio run into a familiar duo, and decide to spy on the pro hero meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve just realized that when I introduced Eijiro, I accidentally said that he had red hair, but can we please just forget I said that. 🙏 I suddenly remembered that his hair would be black at that point of time, and I want to work accordingly with the timeline. Izuku never jumped in for the sludge villain attack, which never happened to Izuku or Katsuki, so Eijiro wouldn’t have been inspired at the point of time like he originally was.

Izuku sighed as he laid down on the ground, soaking in the light of the fake sun that they’d be stuck under for an unknown amount of time. A breeze found its way over to the greenette, his curls softly swaying in the wind, giving a sense of peacefulness. But peacefulness wasn’t an option, and the serene moment wouldn’t last long.

The sun was setting, and a soft orange glow was giving everything it touched a soft lighting, making everything easier in the tired teenagers’ eyes. Izuku laid in the fake grass, wishing that it didn’t feel as real as it did as it tickled some of his exposed skin, but despite the soft tickles, it was soft and comforting, something comfier than just laying on the pathways in Central Tolbana, where beta testers were nervously walking around, trying to figure out if they had enough courage to step forwards and do something. 

Hearing movement in the distance, the boy looked to see what it was, and shrunk in on himself as he tried to hide himself within the grass, watching as the pros passed in the distance to head to the city that a lot of regular players hadn’t yet found out of fear of leaving the Town of Beginnings, and headed to meet up and discuss their plan of action. Once they had passed, Izuku quickly sat up, and was surprised to watch as Momo and Tenya did the same.

“So what’s the plan?” Tenya asked, and Momo’s quick response was “Eat first, and then get going. We’ve had plenty of training today, and I think we can do it.”

“And we have to remember to also focus on the fact that there are more enemies in those dungeons than just the boss himself. We’ll have to be careful as it gives us some higher strength monsters than we’re used to fighting, and when it throws the boss and some more monsters at us at the same time.” Izuku adds.

“Maybe it would be better if we formed a better party? Because based on what all you’re saying about these dungeons, it sounds like a task for much more than three people.” Tenya says, a solemn look on his face as he processes it all.

“Iida, we’ve talked about this for awhile now, and have explained what’s at stake here. The pros won’t let us join in with them otherwise, and will get mad at us later.” Momo says, a sigh escaping her lips as she knows how many hours they spent training so that they _could_ do this. Her shoulders slump a little as Tenya shuts his eyes in thought, placing his head on one of his hands. Izuku starts looking around some more in the mean time, green eyes looking here and there as he takes in his surroundings even better than before, and quickly finds himself sees widening as he spots someone in the distance. His hands quickly dart up to the hood of his cloak, pulling it over his head as the screaming from one person of the duo gets closer and closer.

“Guys, come on.” Izuku mumbles, already starting to walk off. Tenya and Momo look at him in confusion, hesitantly starting to get up.

“OI!” Katsuki shouts as he storms over, someone Izuku didn’t know was trailing the blonde as well, jogging to try and keep up with the walking fury Izuku had always referred to as Kacchan. “I saw a whole bunch of fuckin’ pros, and I’m trying to figure out where they went so I can find the damn floor boss. Where’d they go?”

“I don’t think it is wise of you to follow after them. They could be talking about information only meant for the pro’s ears.” Tenya retaliates, his hands chopping in the air as he begins to argue with the angry blonde. Red eyes glare into the blue pair as a firm hand pulls the taller make down to eye level, and he says “Where’d the bastards go? They won’t be discussing anything private in a game where anyone could be watching them, whether in this game or from screens outside of it. If you saw them, point me in the direction so I can find that floor boss.”

“Woah woah woah, Bakubro, no need to be mean! The guy here was just trying to be manly and let the pros mind their business! Maybe we can continue trying to do some side quests and figure it out by morning!” The haired male says, holding out his hand to Tenya as his other arm wraps around Katsuki’s shoulder, lightly pulling the arm off of Tenya’s shirt. Tenya shakes the offered hand as he straightens up his shirt with his other hand, saying “May I ask who you two even are? As the brother of a pro hero, I understand the privacy some pros must want and how they are doing things to protect us, and are attempting to keep us out of harm’s way.”

“I’m Eijiro Kirishima, and thus here is my friend Bakugo! Nice to meet you! Which pro is your brother?” Eijiro asks, flashing a brilliant, spiky smile.

“My brother is Ingenium, and I am Tenya Iida! It is a pleasure to meet you, Kirishima.” Tenya replies.

“Yeah yeah yeah, enough chit-chat. Where’d the pros go?” Katsuki questions, giving up on looking at Tenya for the answers, and instead turning his ruby gaze to Momo and Izuku. The greenette kept quiet, avoiding the gaze of the brash blonde as he hoped the cloak did its job well enough to hide his face.

“I think we were starting to plan on heading down to where they are anyway, so how about we guide you?” Momo suggests, trying to keep her voice calm with a pinch of happiness to it. Katsuki rolled his eyes before jerking his hand to tell her to start walking, and letting out a huff with the quick comment of “About time someone was actually useful here.”

“I do think the quests were a good suggestion though. They’d help you be more prepared and could help you level up more, getting you more items to level up your weapons and armor as well.” Momo says as she links arms with Tenya and Izuku, pulling the two along as Tenya sputters out protests, claiming that they were “being delinquents” and that “it is absolutely atrocious to even _think_ about invading the privacy of a hero meeting”.

“I don’t need to do a whole bunch of that extra shit. I’ll already have this in the bag, and that boss will be nothing once I get to it.” Katsuki replied, not afraid to just let the cockiness pour into his voice.

“Oh, who are you other two?” Eijiro suddenly asks, hav8ng remembered he was still missing two of the names from the trio escorting him and Katsuki.

“I’m Momo Yaoyorozu, and this is-“ she glances down at Izuku “-Daniel Litholiumson. He’s from America, and since Iida and I know English, we’ve been able to speak with him quite well. So, please excuse his silence."

"Ah, that's cool! I don't think I've ever met anyone from America before!" Eijiro exclaims, his eyes shining with pure excitement as he looks at Izuku. Katsuki just scoffs, and the group of five continue their walk, eventually slipping back into the streets of Central Tolbana. "Ohhhh, this looks so cooool!"

“It’s just another city here with more quests, and starts giving you access to the teleportation monuments, despite there already being one in the Town of Beginnings.” Momo explains, pointing to a teleportation monument at the other side of the city.

“Now where’s the damn heroes at? I don’t see them in here.” Katsuki asks, and the trio sigh before Momo starts walking again, pulling Tenya and Izuku along with her. They begin walking down the stone pathway, making a turn, and then Izuku points to the opening in the corner of the town, one that led to a large, open area with a stage and rows of seats that you would see in a gymnasium arching around the stage. The teenagers stayed just outside it, using the deep shadows from the setting sun to their advantage. They got lucky that none of the pros were standing just outside the meeting area, and were unable to call them out for being there, and halting the meeting.

“It’s wisest that we all rest up today. If none of you can sleep, go ahead and train a bit, but we have to remember how dangerous that boss is. At least, this is only from the information we have gathered from the beta testers.” A pro says, and Izuku automatically connects the voice to Present Mic, or, Hizashi. 

“Tsk, beta testers and their stupid advantage.” Katsuki grumbles under his breath, glaring through the pathway at the pro hero on the stage as they discussed their plan of action.

“We need to make sure that everyone can start to get through, and can move on to challenge more obstacles, and have access to better materials. Remember, we’re doing this to protect the citizens who are stuck here with us, and to get ourselves out of here as soon as possible. We have a whole world, the real one, waiting for us to return. I mean, _guys_ , I have a _radio show_ to run! It’s really important to get out of here!”

“Enough about the real world already. Let’s just get to the boss information.” Rock Lock demands, his voice snappy from a day clearly full of agitation.

“Yeah yeah! Okay, so the boss is obviously strong, but it shouldn’t be too strong! If we can work together, and keep a look out for obvious signs of an attack, we could probably go without any casualties! We can think of this like any other normal team up, except instead of using our quirks, we’re using swords, or spears, or whatever it is you’re fighting with! This team up lasts until everyone is free! Any objections?” Silence washed over the crowd, and Hizashi nodded in satisfaction. “Well let’s go ahead and go for the night, meet up here tomorrow morning at ten, and then move on to go beat that dungeon monster! Can I get some cheers in the crowd!?”

A couple clapped, one whistled, and maybe three cheered at the thought of getting one floor out of the one hundred completed.

“Thank you, thank you, Listeners! My show will continue tomorrow! Just remember ten AM sharp!” The voice hero shouts into the crowd, and the five teenagers quickly retreat away from the pathway right before heroes start spilling out, either silently walking off to where they would stay for the night, or walking off with some others as they softly spoke about anything really, mentally preparing themselves for the fight tomorrow.

“Thanks for the help, guys!” Eijiro thanks the trio, bowing before standing upright, and tossing one of his arms onto Katsuki’s shoulders. The blonde grumbles a little at the contact before the two start walking in a different direction. Katsuki looks at Izuku for a moment, red eyes seeming to narrow a but as if he was trying to figure something out.

“Of course! Just do be careful out there!” Tenya says to them. Momo softly waves her farewells to the duo, and Izuku gives a shy wave as they disappear into the plains, probably heading back to the Town of Beginnings to go back to where they were staying there. 

“So what time are we headed out tomorrow? Before, during, or after the pros leave?” Momo asks as they start walking again.

“Well I was thinking-“ Izuku starts before something catches his gaze out of the corner of his eyes. He wheels around, and a gruff voice says “Should have known you’d be spying.”


End file.
